Working on Wednesday: Jeremiah Warren (About 1772 - 1832), Part 2, The Caveat

Here is the Johnsons' caveat presented in the Hancock County, Georgia, Probate Court which attempted to stop the "establishment" of Jeremiah Warren's will:*

And my transcription of the above text:

Joseph Johnson & wife
vs
John Graybill &
Jesse G. Butts

Caveat to proving the will of Jeremiah Warren dec'd.

Joseph Johnson the husband of Susan
Johnson, formerly Susan Warren comes forward and caveats
the establishment of the will of Jeremiah Warren dec'd upon
the following grounds--

First     The said Jeremiah was incompetent to make a
Will on the day the said will purports to have been
made, and was totally incompetent at the execution
of the same, on account of mental derangement.

Second     Said Will has been revoked by a will subsequentally made.

Third     Said Will has been revoked by subsequent alterations

Fourth   Said Will is void on account of interliniations.

Fifth     Said Will is void on account on undue influence
used by other persons, and not made in  accordance
with the intention of the testator at the time.

Sixth     Said Will is void because it was not Known at
the time of the signature of the said Will by said
testator what were its contents, and because said
bequests in said pretended Will is totally unlawful
and no bequests at all.    Thomas & Gonder[?], Attys for Caveator

However, the Court wasn't impressed by grounds put forward in the caveat, as we see in the lines that followed it in the probate records:

[All images are from "Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990," Hancock - Wills and administration records 1831-1840 vol N; county probate courthouses, Georgia. FamilySearch.org]

Here's my transcription of the above text:

And the due execution of said Will and of the Codicil thereto
being fully proven by the oaths of the three subscribing witnesses
to said Will - and the Court being satisfied of the competency
and sanity of said testator at the time of executing said Will and
Codicil by the evidence of Jesse Simmons and Wilkins Smith 
two of said witnesses sworn in Court, the Caveat of the said
Joseph Johnson is overruled - and it is further ordered and 
considered by the Court that said Will and Codicil is legally
proven and that the same be admitted to record.

By the time I reached this point the first time I saw these documents, I couldn't wait to see what was in Jeremiah's will and codicil that caused one of his sisters and her husband to publicly question his sanity, competence and judgement. And I wasn't disappointed because Jeremiah's will contains some items that would have distressed at least several of his relatives and heirs.

But you'll have to wait until next week.

*Part 1 of Jeremiah Warren's story is here.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.