Nathaniel Hill was the son of Joseph and Hannah Hill. Hannah died in 1738, and Joseph then married Sarah Sayer. When Joseph died, he left "my Negro man Plato" to Nathaniel, and his "Negro man Sharper" first to Sarah and then to Nathaniel.

In his 1742 will, Joseph Hill left "my Negro Boy Tom" to his wife Sarah. He also left to Sarah "the service of my Negro man Sharper ... to be for her use during her Widowhood. He left "my Negro man Plato" to his son Nathaniel, and also "after ye term is Ended which my Negro Sharper is to serve my Wife, my Will is that the said Negro shall be ye servant of my said Son Nathaniel."

The 1743 probate abstract states: "1 Negro man named Sharper at £37/10/0, a Negro named Plato at £37/10/0, a Negro boy named Tom at £20." An additional abstract record from 1750 states: "Legacies ment[ion] relations: Sarah Hill, wid, who receives Negro boy and Negro man named Will, Nathaniel Hill, s[on], receives a Negro Man." Note that Will was not mentioned in Joseph Hill's will, only in this probate record.

While Joseph specified that Sharper would become Nathaniel's "servant" after Sarah's death, no such instruction was provided regarding his "Negro Boy Tom." Did Tom become Nathaniel's "servant" as well? Also, Will was omitted entirely from Joseph's will; did he also become a "servant" for Nathaniel after Sarah's death?

"His [first] wife, the mother of his children, was Hannah Littlefield, who died Oct. 10, 1738. Having no sympathy with celibacy, and his own experience concurring with the declaration of Infinite Wisdom that it "is not food for man to be alone," he two months afterward, Dec. 12, 1738, married Sarah, daughter of Daniel Sayer." - Bourne, p. 356

Joseph was predeceased by Joseph, Jr., Nathaniel's older brother, so Nathaniel was the senior male heir in Joseph's will.

"Sharper Negro Servant to Joseph Hill Esqr and Hannah Simonds Indian woman their intention of marriage was Entered with me the fifth day of March 1742/3."

Bibliography:

The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820 - by Edward Bourne (1875)

York County Registry of Probate

Maine Probate Abstracts Vol I 1687-1775 - John Eldridge Frost (1991)

Records of the First Church of Wells, as transcribed in 6 issues of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 75-76, 1921-22