Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 10, The Commission and the Depositions

As we saw in the previous post about probate records for my third great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips, her heirs petitioned the Court to allow her land to be sold because "Said lands cannot be equitably fractioned or divided between Said Joint Owners without a Sale [.]" and that the Court appointed W.F. Hodnett as Commissioner empowered to take depositions of witnesses. Here's the official Commission signed by Judge C.A. Stanton which was misfiled in John P. Phillips' probate records.

[Description : Estate Papers, Petteway, Ignatius W to Phillips, Nancy. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Below is a printed form* describing the process.

[Description : Estate Papers, Phillips, Nancy (Minor) to Piques, Sarah.

Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Thomas H Phillips       } Petition in Macon Probate Court
Jeremiah D Phillips     } to Sell Real Estate for a division
          vs                       } Interrogatories to be propounded
William R Phillips       } to William H Stanton & Alanson
                           Etal   } Lockwood Material Witness for the
Petitioners
Interrogatory 1, Are you acquainted with Certain lands, Situate
in Said County of Macon, and Known as the South half of the
north west Quarter, and Eighty Acres on the west half of the
South half of Section Eighteen (18) Township Fifteen (15) of Range
Twenty Four (24) being the dower Interest of Mrs Timney Phillips

Interrogatory 2, Are you acquainted with the heirs of John
Phillips? if Yea, name them, which are Minors, can or not
cannot Said land be equatably divided between said heirs without
a Sales? if not, state why not?                       Clopton & Ligon
                                                                      Attys for Petitioners

Depositions of Alanson Lockwood and William H Stanton
witnesses Sworn and examined under and by Virtue of a Comm-
-mission issued out of the Probate Court of the State of Alabama
for Macon County, in a Certain Cause therein depending between
Thomas H Phillips & Jeremiah D Phillips Plaintiffs and
William  R Phillips Etal Defendants,
   The witnesses being duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole
 truth and nothing but the truth, do depose[?] and Say as follows

To the first Interrogatory, they say they are acquainted with the
lands described in Said Interrogatory.

To the Second Interrogatory, they Say they are, their names are 
as follows W.R. Phillips, Josiah Phillips, Thomas H. Phillips,
Littleberry B Phillips; Jeremiah D Phillips, Lucinda I Varner

[Description : Probate Records, Vol 10, 1863-1866; Probate Records, Vol 11, 1866-1868. Ancestry.com. Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.]

Martha Adams, Mary Lane, Elizabeth Ann Lockwood, Elizabeth
Phillips, Eugenia Phillips, Columbiana Phillips & John T Phillips
of who the last named five (5) are minors, they further answer,
that Said lands cannot be equitably divided without a sale for
the following reasons (Viz, 1st there is not enough of it, 2nd there is
no timber on it, 3rd there are two public Roads running through
it, with a lane fence to be Kept up
                                                                     A. Lockwood
                                                                    W.H. Stanton
We the Commissioner in the Said Commission named, do hereby
Certify, that the evidence of the witnesses A Lockwood & W H
Stanton, was taken down under Oath & Subscribed by them in
in our presence on the 4th day of November 1863 at Cotton Valley in
the County of Macon State of Alabama, and that we have
personal Knowledge of Said witnesses
                          Witness our hand and Seal
                                            W F Hodnett {L.S}

The living children of John P. Phillips (1792-1852) by both his wives** are named as Defendants in this "Certain Cause." And the first two men, William R. (W.R.) and Josiah***, weren't previously identified as his sons. Because William's name leads the list I'm assuming he's the eldest. It's equally unclear to me who Martha Adams and Mary Lane are as they aren't accounted for in our family tree.

The named minor heirs include Elizabeth Ann Lockwood (1851-1917) the only child of Timney's oldest daughter Elizabeth Ann Phillips and her husband Alanson Lockwood. However the connection of Elizabeth, Eugenia, Columbiana and John T. Phillips to this family are unknown to me at the moment.

So thanks to these two pages of probate records I have new people to research.



*This form is part of the records for the 1866 petition but it's unlikely that the procedure changed in the meantime.
**His first wife was Ann Nancy Pennington (1798-bef.1827).
***Our tree did have a Josiah Phillips (b.1822) who married my first cousin 4 times removed Martha Ann Chappell but we hadn't connected him to John P. Phillips and Nancy Ann.

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