Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863) - Probate Records, Part 13, Where Was I?

Sidetracked by the discovery of more Phillips heirs (male and female) in a deposition, it's been over a month since I've continued the story told in the probate records for Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips, a paternal third great grandmother who died in Alabama in 1863.

Since the file for Timney's estate contains a jumble of papers that are not in chronological order I decided to see what other records are available. The probate minutes seemed like a good place to start. Fortunately there's an index which should make it easier.

[Minutes Vol 9 1861-1864. 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.]

Looking through the pages referenced in the above extract, some of the entries listed above deal with matters I've already covered like the naming of her stepson Thomas H. Phillips as administrator, the inventory taken of her estate and the sale of her slaves and perishable property. The entry regarding Commission's report and the depositions we looked at earlier is to be found on pages 500-501.

John Phillips                                          Regular Term
   Sell Land                                            November 9th 1863

This day having been appointed more than Forty
days Since by the Judge of this Court for the hearing
of the petition or application, now comes the said
J D Phillips & T H Phillips and moves the Court for an
order of Sale in accordance with Said petition of the 
following described lands situated in Macon County
to wit the South half of the North West quarter of Sect
-ion Eighteen (18) Township Fifteen (15) Range twen
-ty four (24) and Eighty acres of the West half of the
South half of the Said Section Eighteen (18) being
the Dower Interest of Timney Phillips, upon the
ground that the Same Cannot be equitably divi
-ded without a sale of the Same and Sampson Lanier
who was heretofore appointed Guardian ad litem
to protect the Interest of The minor heirs of Said Estate,
comes into Court and Cxxxtying said application

[Minutes Vol 9 1861-1864. 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.]

and it appearing that notice of the time and place
Set for the hearing of the Said petition has been given
to all parties in interest in pursuance of Law, and
as directed by the order of this Court made & entered
in the premises on the 12th day of October 1863, and
it now being proved to the Satisfaction of the Court by
the testimony of A Lockwood & William H Stanton
witness in this behalf & whose testimony has been
taken upon direct & Cross interrogatories by deposi
-tions as in chancery cases & filed of record in this pro
-ceeding, that the Said Land Cannot be equitably
divided among all the parties in Interest, & that
it would be to the Interest of all Said parties to Sell
the Same for the purpose of division & partition,
It is therefore ordered, adjudged & decreed that
the Said application be granted, and that
Said Real Estate in the petition be described,
be Sold for the purpose of partition & division am
-ong the parties interested therein & to effect Such
Sale and division, It is ordered that John L
Carmichael, W H Stanton, W G Crawford, A
M Bryde and M Peters who are deemed by
the Court Suitable persons, be appointed Comm
-issioners to Sell Said real estate, and partition
to the parties interest their respective amounts
arising from Said Sale, after after having ad
-vertised Said real Estate for at least thirty days
notice of the time place & terms of Sale, toge
-ther with a description of Said land in the South
South Western Baptist a newspaper published in
Said County, in front of the Court House door
for Cash, It is further ordered that Said Com
-missioners be directed to make a return to this Court
in writing and under Oath of their proceedings in
this behalf within Sixty days after Said Sale,
It is further ordered that Said Commissioners
do retain the proceeds of Said Sale until Said Sale
Shall be confirmed, & until further order of 
Court,

Although it may look as if there should be more of the order above, that's all they wrote. The next entry signals the beginning of a later court date and a different probate case.


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Jeremiah Warren Part 5, The Codicil

Sometime after Great Uncle Jeremiah Warren signed and sealed his will in front of witnesses, he wrote out this codicil:

[Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990, images,

FamilySearch, Hancock - Wills and administration records 1831-1840 vol N - image 80 of 376; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

And lastly it is  express will and desire and I do hereby
order and appoint that if any dispute difference question
 or controversy be moved or arise concerning any gift or
bequathed or thing in this my last Will given and bequeathed
expressed or contained that no suit  in law of equity or otherwise
shall be brought for and concerning the same but that it be
refered to my friends Joel Crofford and James Thomas of
Sparta and what   determined shall be binding and conclus-
ive to all intents and every person therein concerned also
it is my wish that my mother Elizabeth Warren Sr. shall
have one choice mule.

Also it is my wish that the support for the first year
to be reserved at the Parker place for said negroes--
also it is my wish that my negroe woman Amey
shall have fifty dollars to be paid when the final division
takes place aso two sous and bigs to be applied for the
use of the above negroes at the Parker place.

Jeremiah Warren

It's clear from this final provision Jeremiah knew he had put items in his will that were likely to cause trouble so he named two of his friends whom he wanted to make the final, binding decisions.

What can we find out about these men?

James Thomas (c.1799-1866) was born in Hancock County and became a successful lawyer whose law practice was based in Sparta. In the 1830 U.S. Census the entry for the Hancock County household of James Thomas lists 4 free white persons: 1 male 20-30, 1 male 30-40, 1 female under 5 years of age and 1 female 20-30. There are also 8 enslaved persons for a total of 12 people.

Joel Crawford's* entry in the same census lists a household comprised of 100 persons, 5 free white persons: 1 male 40-50 and 2 little boys under 5, a female 30-40 and a young girls under 5; of the the 95 slaves, nearly half were under the age of 10.

[The twentieth century biographical dictionary of notable Americans ..vol III

by Johnson, Rossiter, 1840-1931, ed; Brown, John Howard, 1840-1917, ed. Published 1904.

Source: Archive.org digitized from the collections of the New York Public Library.]

And at times Mr. Crawford served as a Justice of the Hancock County Inferior Court:

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch, Hancock > Wills and administration records 1831-1840 vol N > image 30 of 376; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

By choosing these two prominent men in the community that he called his friends Jeremiah was probably hoping that his final wishes would be respected.



*Since the transcriber of the original document into the probate record underlined words that were misspelled and Crofford was partially underlined, when I didn't find anyone with that surname in the 1830 enumeration for Hancock County I tried Crawford and hit gold.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.