From Dierk County, on February 20, in the year of Christ, 1719
I, the undersigned, confess as I lay sick in this bed, ill in body but of sound mind, acknowledging the uncertainty of this life and the last hour of my days, and when it will please God to take back my soul, that I am grateful to have made my testament and put into writing my last will as follows. First, I thank God as the father of all light as he adopted me into the life of his children through his son our Lord Jesus Christ. He also gave me through the grace of his Holy Spirit his knowledge so that I would be instructed in his church, having extracted me from the idolatry in which I was born to lead me into the light of his truth, having given me the grace of receiving his holy sacraments. And the wealth that it pleased his divine kindness to allot to me from the wealth of this world in order to accomplish my last will, I call upon those who shall have my last will after my death that they should take everything that belongs to me and that it should be given to the poor of the church of New Paltz. I wish that after my death my Bible be devoted to the service of the church for as long as the service is held in French, and if it turns into Dutch, the said Bible will be sold on behalf of the poor Frenchmen of the said church of New Paltz. This is my last will which I have signed in the presence of witnesses.
Jean Thevenin
André le Fevre
Daniel duBois
Jacob Hasbrouck
may those who have nursed me be rewarded
Translated from the original French by Victor-Guy Aboulaffia, 2000
