Last Will and Testament
Seal, Last Will and Testament
Kept inside the Bible cover, this is the last will and testament of Gerhard and Zwaantje Jaansen. The will is signed and notarized April 29, 1908 by a judge of Leer, Germany. The yet unbroken Leer city seal is still in place across the spine string which binds the will's pages. The undersigned are Gerhard and Zwaantje and witnesses. The will states that when one testator deceases, the survivor inherits all property. When both are deceased, the heirs (unnamed) are to inherit the property. However, if any heir breaks the seal before the death of the Jaansens, that person is disinherited. (Note by Steve): I asked a German who frequents our shop if he could translate the document. He was unable to read it; his mother was also unable. But their elderly family friend deciphered it with difficulty. Another German in our shop gave me a similar explanation: she was unable to read the document, but her grandmother could have read it. Why? This German script is from a period before World War I, and only historians or linguists are now able to read it. (Jan Hey Dean remembers that her Grandma Zwaantje Johnson Holtzman, granddaughter of Zwaantje Jaansen, could read both the Bible and the document.)