From the Probate Files: Richard Pace - Bertie County, North Carolina, 1738

When I wrote about Richard Pace's daughter Tabitha on Monday I included a published extract of his will which was presented to the Bertie County Court in February, 1738. Here's the original document with my own transcription.

In The Name of God Amen; The Thirteenth 
day of March; I Richard Pace of Bertie Prect in 
the Province of North Carolina being of sound & perfect
mind & memory Thanks be Given to God, Do make & ordain
this my Last Will & Testament. Principally & first of all I
recommend my Soule into the hands of God that gave it,
hoping through the merits death & passion of my Saviour,
Jesus Christ to have free pardon & forgiveness of all my
sins, and my body I commit to the earth to be decently interred;
and as touching my Worldly Estate I dispose of the same
in the following manner & form; That is to Say.

First   I Will that all those Debts & duties that I do owe in rights
or conscience to any person or persons shall be truly _______
& paid by my Executors hereinafter named.

Item   I Give & Bequeath unto my Son William Pace that
Plantation with one hundred & Ninety Acres of Land thereto
belonging, where he now Lives, to him & his heirs for ever.

Item   I Give & Bequeath unto my Son Thomas Pace & his heirs
for ever my Plantation where I now Live with three hundred
& twenty Acres thereto belonging, reserving unto my
Dearly Beloved wife Rebecka Pace the sole use & benefit thereof
during her naturale life.

Item   I give unto my Son Richard Pace five shillings silver money

Item   I give unto my Daughters, Ann Howard, Rebecka Bradford,
Amy Green, Francis Green, Tabitha Moore, Mary Johnson &
Sarah House, each of them, five shillings Silver money.

Item   I give & bequeath unto my Son Thomas Pace my Plantation
on Roanoak river with Two hundred & ninety acres of Land
thereto belonging, also Ten head of Cattle, one feather bed &
furniture, four pewter dishes, six pewter plates, two pewter
basons, two iron pots, one skellet. one frying pan, to him & his
heirs for ever.

Item   I give & bequeath unto my Loving wife Rebecka Pace all the remain-der
of my Estate of whatsoever kind to be by her quietly possessed
during Life, and after her decease to be equally Divided between
my two Sons William Pace and Thomas Pace for the
use and advantage of them & their heirs for ever;

[Wills, 1663-1789; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History; Probate Place: North Carolina.

Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.]

Item   I do hereby Nominate & appoint my Loving Sons, William
Pace & Thomas Pace my only Executors of this my Will
Ratifying & confirming this & no other to be my Last
Will & Testament. In Testimony whereof I have
hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this
day & year above written.

Signed, sealed, published, pronounced  }
& Declared by the said Richard Pace,    }
to be his Last Will and Testament:         }
In the presence of us the Subscribers     }                    Richard Pace {Seal}

     J. Edwards           }
     William Boon      }  Jurats
     Benjamin Dukes  }

Bertie     }
Precinct  }  the Febry Court 1738 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The aforewritten Will of Richard Pace was duly produced
in open Court by the Oaths of John Edwards Esq William
Boone and Benjamin Dukes Only Subscribing Witnesses
thereto And William Pace and Thomas Pace Exectrs
therein Named took the Exctrs. Oath by Law
Required

                                       Test. Jno Wynne Clerk[??]

I wasn't able to locate any other probate documents for Richard Pace. An inventory of his estate would have helped us paint a picture of the kind of household Tabitha grew up in, but we can tell that her father owned hundreds of acres of land in Bertie County. Also from his mention of pewter tableware in his bequest to his son Thomas we can infer that the Paces could afford expensive (and probably imported) items.* (There's no mention of any slaves--does that mean he didn't own any?)

Once again we see the pattern of the bulk of Richard's property going to (in this case) two of his sons while the other boy and his daughters were left five silver shillings. When judging the value of their bequest** one thing to keep in mind is that hard money was never plentiful in the American colonies--and most currency in circulation was paper money, printed by each colony (and often  counterfeited). It's impossible to know exactly what each recipient got (was it really silver?) and so we don't know what they might have been able to buy with their inheritance.***

*Here's a piece on early pewter in the colonies.
**For a longer discussion of colonial money, this piece from North Carolina Digital History is helpful.
***His daughters were already married and it's likely each (or her husband) received some portable property at the time of their wedding.



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