When Mary Northrop died on June 29, 1794, she left her entire estate to the town on condition it be used for public education with interest on the estate to be paid out each year to support education. Her will, dated April 13, 1793, stated: "I give and bequeath unto the Town of Brookfield all my monies, Notes, or Bonds or Book Debts or Lands or Chattels or any interest that shall be found belonging to me after my decease, for use of a school, to be kept in the center of town [...] the interest of the money to be paid yearly for the support of the school after a reasonable time to settle the estate in." She apparently could not read herself and signed the will with an "X", her mark.