52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2019 WEEK 19: LOT CONANT OF SALEM AND BEVERLY, MA. PT2

I found an image and transcription of Lot Conant's will in Frederick Odell Conant's  A History and Genealogy of the Conant Family in England and America, Thirteen Generations, 1520-1887:

"I Lot Conant aged about tiftie years being sicke and weak, yet of p'fit understanding due hereby declare my last will and testament wherein in the first place I doe beipieth my soule unto god that gave it, and my body to the grave in hope of a blessed resurrection: and for my outward estate and goods I doe bequeath and give unto my five sonns to each of them tiftie pounds and unto my sonn nathaniel the shop and tools over & above the rest, and unto my five daughters twenty pounds to each of them and this estate I leave to be whole and unbroken till they come to full age or to marriage estate and in the meane time the whole to rest in the hands of my wife, and for the bringing up of the children and further more my will is that my wife be executrix and that the land be not at all disposed off from the children and that my wife have the dwelling house and orchard for her life time, and also that my kinswoman mari Leach have a cow or heifer at her being married or going from my wife. And for help unto my wife in this matter 1 doe instruct and designe mr. John Hale, Captaine Lathropand my brother Exercise Conant to be assisting, hereunto 1 have subscribed my hand this 24 of the 7 month 1674.

Witness (signed) Lot Conant

Roger Conant
Ex Erc'lse Conant 

Roger Conant and Exercise Conant sworn in Court at Salem the 26: 9 mo: 1674 that they were present as witnesses when Lott Conant signed and proclaimed the above written as his last will and testament and there is no later will they know of, the said Lott being of good understanding.

The original will is preserved in the Court Files of Essex county. A fac-simile of it is here presented.

-pp129-131
A History and Genealogy of the Conant Family in England and America, Thirteen Generations, 1520-1887: Containing Also Some Genealogical Notes on the Connet, Connett and Connit Families, private printing, Portland, Maine 1887

Now here's the thing.

Lot Conant's Probate File Folder is empty. The file at AmericanAncestors.org only contains a small slip of paper with "No Paper Found" written on it. Since Frederick Odell Conant published his book in 1887, the probate papers must have disappeared sometime after that,