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In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century New England, when the head of a household died, the widow usually received one-third of his property, so long as she remained a widow and did not remarry. A son ordinarily received the land, but the widow's "thirds" included the right to live in the house until she gave up the right. In this will all of the property was left to the widow. Upon her death, the property was to go to the three unmarried children. The married daughter, Rebecca, who had probably already received her portion at her marriage in 1859, received "the sum of One Hundred Dollars."

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