This guest post is from Dillon Stafford, Regent Law Wills, Trusts, & Estates Student:
Recently, I embarked on a journey to trace my Stafford lineage to the first Stafford to immigrate to the “New World” from England. In this search, I found that, before my family arrived in Kentucky (my home state), the first of my line landed in Virginia in the early 1600s. While poring over documents that survived over the years, I discovered the Last Will & Testament of William Stafford III. What struck me about this relatively common document was not the earthly possessions that William left to his children, but rather the language of his opening paragraph, which showed the most valuable thing William passed on to his heirs, a knowledge that faith in Christ is the ONLY thing of true value we have in our earthly lives. The language in that opening paragraph is below (typos and all):
“In the name of God amen the seventeenth day of February 1727, I, William
Stafford of the precinct of Currituck in the county of Albemarle in the
province of North Carolina whreof being very sick and weak of body but of
perfect mind and memory, thanks be unto the almighty God for it, calling unto
mind the mortality of my life and knowing it is appointed all men are to die,
do make and -- this my last will and testament, that is to say principally and
finally first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that
gave it and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent manner as a
Christian ought to be at the discretion of my Exector, nothing doubtiing but at
the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of
God and as touching such worldlyestate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless
me in this life, I give, deem and dispose of the same in the following manner
and form:” After this paragraph, William outlines in detail how the earthly possessions
are to be distributed amongst his wife and children.
What was so beautiful to me was William’s emphasis that his earthly possessions
meant very little without the eternity that follows death by one’s acceptance
of Christ. This inheritance of faith in God carried through my family for 250
years to my birth and was a gift that passed down to me by my parents as it had
been by their parents, and so on. I wonder if William Stafford III knew that
his powerful belief in God and his documentation of that faith would live on so
long and be inherited by so many generations. I intend to renew William’s
language as I begin to draft my own will soon and hope to pass this remarkable
gift of knowing Jesus Christ to my children.
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