. Rachel Constable, the
plantation upon which he then lived, a provision was inserted that
should she predecease him without heirs, the contract was void. A
marriage contract drawn, 1667, between John Savage of the Eastern Shore
and his intended second wife Mary Robins, stipulated that his "home
plantation at the bottom of the neck" should go to her heirs.

As stated, provision for children of a first husband were often a part
of the marriage agreement. Mrs. Sarah Fleete exacted from Colonel John
Walker, before the nuptials, a pledge that he would give to her daughter
by a first marriage, 400 pounds of lawful money of England within the
expiration of six months, or at Mary Burden's arrival at the age of
sixteen years. When Mrs. Elizabeth Sheppard of Surry County agreed to a
marriage with Thomas Warren, the contract, duly recorded, was very
specific. Warren was to have full control of her first husband's estate,
with certain exceptions of livestock to be given to Mrs. Sheppard's
children. Her stepchildren, as provided in the contract, were to have
their full inheritances left them by their father.

Mrs. Elizabeth Mihill, widow of Edward Mihill of New Poquoson (later
Charles) Parish, was much less generous with her prospective bridegroom
in a contract drawn, 1661. Being about to marry William Hay, Gentleman,
of the same Parish, Mrs. Mihill placed everything she owned in the hands
of her kin, forever barring the third husband from coming into
possession of the holdings of the two prior spouses. She deeded to her
son Robert Sheild, by her first husband, all the land and buildings left
to her by her second husband, and further directed that should her son
leave no heirs, then, her brother Arthur Bray of London should have the
estate. The only concession which she made to her prospective third
husband was an agreement that he should have one acre of land, but the
condition of this gift was that he grind for her son Robert, toll free,
100 bushels weekly, and allow her son also the use of the timber on the
land. In addition, she gave her cattle and a servant to her son, and
assigned gifts of her possessions to other relatives. To these unusual
terms, William Hay, evidently an ardent suitor in pursuit of the widow,
agreed, and upon her marriage to him shortly thereafter, he dutifully
came into Court and acknowledged his assent to the terms of the
settlement.

As the death rate in Virginia in the seventeenth century was high,