More McDonalds in Anderson County, Texas

This triple portrait of John Bethune McDonald (1851-1928), his wife Susie America Freeman (1867-1958) and supposedly Brice N. McDonald (1901-1986)* taken in Neches, Anderson County, Texas, was posted to findagrave.com by the late Nancy Franklin-Walling Bundrick who found it in The Portal to Texas History.

[John Bethune, Susie Freeman and Brice N. McDoinald [sic], Neches, Texas c. 1900

"The Portal to Texas History" - Anderson County.]

*If the date of 1900 is correct it could be Brice's brother Bethune Freeman McDonald (1892-1937). (The source states that the date could be approximate.)


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Johnnie Belle & Brice Norvill McDonald - About 1908

Johnnie (1894-1984) and her brother Brice (1901-1986) are several more of my distant Freeman cousins.*

[J.B. and Brice N. McDonald shared to Ancestry.com by jimkelly1803]

Johnnie attended the University of Texas, Austin, from about 1915 through 1920. Here's a group photo which includes her from the 1919 yearbook:

["U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; Year: 1919. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 (database on-line).

Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

In 1925 Johnnie went to Europe although we don't know when she left the U.S. or what countries she visited. The only record I was able to find for her was this returning passenger list showing that she sailed from Rotterdam (on the S.S. Rotterdam) and arrived in New York on September 10th.

[Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C. Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls.]

[Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Original data: Various maritime reference sources.]

A year later she was teaching history at Central High School in South Houston, Texas.

["U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; Year: 1926. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990 (database on-line).

Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

She and Samuel Charles Ballard (1892-1981) were married on June 24, 1928 and the 1930 U.S. Census found them living with her parents in Neches, Anderson County, Texas. Johnnie was teaching high school while Samuel clerked in her Mcdonald family's general store. Ten years later the couple were living in their own house, Johnnie still a teacher and Samuel was working as a salesman in a grocery store managed by another of the McDonald clan.

As far as I can find out, the couple never had any children.** They remained in Anderson County for the rest of their lives. From findagrave.com we learn that Johnnie was "[k]nown to be active in the East Texas Historical Commission and United Daughters of the Confederacy, John H, Reagan Chapter."

[Samuel Ballard and Johnnie Bell McDonald, photo shared to Ancestry.com by amreece1]

Samuel died in 1981 and Johnnie survived him by three years. They are both buried in the Neches Cemetery.



Here's how we're related:

[Ancestry.com]

**Her brother Brice named his daughter for her.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Rufus Watson Freeman (1862 - 1921) M.D.

Someone radically trimmed this photo of Dr. Rufus Freeman, one of my paternal second cousins, twice removed.*

[RLouiseHazelip46 posted this to Ancestry.com] 

I was able to find his obituary:

[5 Mar 1921, Page 3 - The Chickasha Daily Express at Newspapers.com]

So he graduated from Vanderbilt School of Medicine just like my great uncle Hill Freeman Warren, the oldest son of my great great grandmother Nannie Freeman Warren.

*Here's how we're related:

[Ancestry.com]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Jesse Rowe Persinger Hibbs & Daughter

The note on this photo, attached to Jesse's profile in an Ancestry.com by egodwin17, says only "aunt jess." I believe the child is her oldest daughter, another Jesse Persinger, who was born in 1921.* Unfortunately I don't know anything about the airplane she's standing in front of.

[Courtesy of egodwin17]

Here's the newspaper announcement of her marriage to Dr. Henry H. Hibbs, Jr. in 1918.

[8 June 1918, Page 4 - The Albany-Decatur Daily at Newspapers.com]

Jesse is one of my paternal 4th cousins (from my Freeman line):

[Ancestry.com]

*Her younger daughter Mary Sue Hibbs was born in 1925.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: "The prehistoric shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico is so fertile you can see it from space"

The Washington Post published a piece about the region of Mississippi and Alabama known as the Black Belt and used this satellite image to illustrate their point:

It is subtle, and it blends in well with the surroundings, and if you are not looking for it there is a good chance you will scan right over it. But once someone points it out on a true-color map, it is impossible to unsee: a crescent of off-hue land in Mississippi and Alabama that is so perfectly-arced it looks unnatural.

[NASA via The Washington Post]

More from the Post's article:

In reality, this arc is super-fertile, cultivated land surrounded by dense forest. It is the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico as it existed 145 million years ago.

[NASA via The Washington Post]

As you can see, Macon County is one of the Alabama counties in the Black Belt and that's where my Warren, Hardy and Freeman ancestors moved as soon as the land was forcibly taken from the Creek Indians. They settled in an area called Cotton Valley which is located in the southern part of Macon County.

[The University of Alabama Department of Geography via TrueSouth.com]

Before intensive agriculture changed the land forever, the Black Belt comprised at least 356,000 acres of open prairie of which only a small fragment remains. Here's more information (with photos) about some of the plants and insects found there.

Cotton Valley proved to be a stopping point on my ancestors' way west as younger generations all moved on to Texas in the 1850s.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Elmer Lee Scarborough (1905 - 1966) - Guitarist & Band Leader

By the time Elmer Scarborough* was 18 he was running an amateur radio transmitting station out of his parent's home in Fort Worth, Texas. According to the 1930 U.S. Census he was still living at home and was working as a pressman for a printer. But by 1932 he had become the leader of a country swing group called the Hi-Flyers** who had a regular program on a local radio station.

[The Hi-Flyers, Elmer is on the left.]

The band made a number of recordings between 1937 and 1941 and I was able to find two of their songs on YouTube.

[Roadside Rag]

[Mable Ain't Able]

The group disbanded during World War II, but reformed in 1946 with Elmer still in charge.

[Fort Worth Star-Telegram Wednesday, Mar 20, 1946 Fort Worth, TX Page: 5.

Source: Genealogy Bank]

Sadly, the reunion lasted only about a year and as far as I can tell from city directories and his 1966 death certificate, Elmer's musical career was over.


*He's my fourth cousin, through my father's Freeman line:

[Ancestry.com]

**Here's Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary's history of the Hi-Flyers, listen to them on AllMusic or buy a CD of some of their music on Amazon.






© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: William Freeman - Surry County, North Carolina - 1802

I haven't found any information about my paternal 4X great grandfather William Freeman before 1753 when someone of that name appears in colonial records as a resident of Chowan County, North Carolina. There is some reason to believe that he may have been of Scots-Irish descent and could have been an immigrant. Although there have been claims that he was a veteran of the Revolutionary War I don't find any convincing evidence to support them.

However, by 1784 he had become a resident of Surry County where his name appears in the 1790 and 1800 U.S. Censuses. And that's where he was living when he made his will on March 25, 1802.

[North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970; https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:SQWX-D191-9?cc=1867501&wc=32L2-K6X%3A170003101%2C170786401]

In the name of God Amen. I William Freeman of the County of
Surry and State of North Carolina being weak in body but
of perfect mind and memory Thanks be to God for the same but
calling to mind the mortallity for all men once to die do make and
ordain this my last will and testament that is to say
  First of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of
god who gave it and my body to the earth to be buried in a decent
Christian like manner at the discretion of my Executors nothing
doubting that at the General Resurection I shall receive the same
again by the Power of God; and as touching such worldly Estate 
wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this life I give demise
and dispose of the ame in the following manner and form.
   Item the 1st, And first and first I give to be beloved son
Josiah Freeman my negro boy named Hardy.
And 2ndly I give to my daughter Kiddy Mitchel a negro girl
named Chloe
   3rd I also give unto my son William Freeman one negro girl names Crease
   4th I give to my well beloved wife Sarah one mare saddle and bridle
and two cows and calves two basons and one dish and six plates and
likewise her peacible liveing on the plantation during her life time or
widowhood: Also I give her one negro man name Primas and one

                                                                                             wench

[North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970; https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:SQWX-D191-9?cc=1867501&wc=32L2-K6X%3A170003101%2C170786401]

wench named Ruth during the same (and after that the said
mare and negroes to go to my son Tyre I also give her one
feather bed and furniture
   5th I also leave to my daughter Polly one mare named Pol
and twenty dollars in cash.
   6th I also give to my daughter Penelope Hains one negro girl
named Milly.
   7th I also give to my son Tyre all my lands and plantation
where I now live: A also give and bequeath him my still and
all the necessary utentials to her belonging, I also give him
one negro boy name Will and one horse called Sumpter also I give
him all my stock of hogs and Sheep and one feather bed and 
              & all necessary household furniture
furniture ^ and plantation tools and one cow and calfe 
   Then all the property or remaining part of my Estate I leave
to be equally divided between Noah, John, Richard and David
   And I do hereby utterly disallow revoke and disannul all and 
every other formes Testament wills legacies bequests and Executors
by me in any wise ^before^ named, willed, or bequeathed ratifying and
confirming this and no other to be my Last will and testament
   I do constitute and appoint my worthy friends James Howard
and Nathan Haynes Executors to this my last will and testament.
   In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal 
this twenty-fifth day of March in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and two.
Signed sealed and delivered in presents of us}  William Freeman {seal}
Edward Smith
Lydia Smith
Jonathan Allen

                                                                                    State of 

[North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970; https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:SQWX-D191-9?cc=1867501&wc=32L2-K6X%3A170003101%2C170786401]

State of North Carolina Surry County, May Session AD 1802

Edward Smith and Lydia Smith two of the subscribing witnesses

to the foregoing last will and testament of William Freeman, made

oath that they saw the said Freeman sign publish and declare 

the same to be his last will and testament that he was of sound

and disposing mind and memory and at the same time they

saw Jonathan Allen sign the same as a witness thereto which

was ordered to be recorded.    Recorded according by Jo Willliams CC

There are more probate records for William Freeman's estate which I'll post about next week.

Here's how I'm related to him:

[Ancestry.com]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Josiah Haralson Freeman (1897 - 1950), Sailor

He was born in rural Morgan County, Georgia, which is nowhere near the ocean but Josiah chose to enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1917.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Georgia Adjutant General’s Office. World War I Statements of Service Cards. Georgia State Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

I found a photograph of his ship, the U.S.S. San Francisco, at the Library of Congress.

[U.S.S. San Francisco. Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress)]

He must have found life at sea attractive because four months after his discharge from the Navy he applied for his Seaman's Protection Certificate in New Orleans.*

*You can see a picture of Josiah (who is my second cousin, twice removed) in this earlier post.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Frances L Turner (1827 - 1851)

When my third great aunt Francis Turner married my third great uncle Benjamin Blanton Freeman in 1844 the couple weren't the first members of their respective families to be joined together. Her older sister Elizabeth "Lizzie" and his older brother Henry Hill "H.H." had gotten married four years earlier and were to become my great great grandparents through their daughter Nancy Elizabeth, known as Nanny.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

Francis only appears in one Federal Census record (in 1850) and she'd already had three children in the six years of her marriage.

[Year: 1850; Census Place: Subdivision 65, Newton, Georgia; Roll: M432_79; Page: 514A; Image: 440. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Another son was born in December, 1850, and it's believed that Francis died around that time but no date is known for certain.

A few days ago Christine and I was discussing how quickly the names of parents can be forgotten and the 1925 Texas death certificate of her son Josephus (J.C.) is an example of that, although his information is more complete than some. His father's name is recognizable while his mother's given name is correct, but her maiden name is listed as "Tonnel". The informant is listed as "Hosp Chart" so perhaps J.C. was the source?

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

The parental information for his brother Richard Turner Freeman's death certificate two years later is complete and correct, undoubtedly due to the source of information being his cousin (and my great grandmother) Nanny Freeman (Mrs. James Chappell Warren).

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Josiah Haralson Freeman (1897 - 1950), Seaman

In 1919 Josiah H. Freeman (a second cousin, twice removed) was issued his seaman's protection certificate* in New Orleans. 

[Ancestry.com. U.S., Applications for Seaman's Protection Certificates, 1916-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Application for Seaman's Protection Certificates, 1916-1940. 1151 Boxes. NAID: 2788575. Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, 1774-1982, Record Group 41. The National Archives at Washington, D.C.]

His application lists the birthplaces of his father Leroy W. Freeman and himself, both of whom were natives of Georgia. Josiah had enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War I and apparently found the lure of the sea was stronger than his attachment to his Georgia home.

[Ancestry.com. U.S., Applications for Seaman's Protection Certificates, 1916-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Application for Seaman's Protection Certificates, 1916-1940. 1151 Boxes. NAID: 2788575. Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, 1774-1982, Record Group 41. The National Archives at Washington, D.C.]

As far as I can tell he never lived in Georgia again, residing first in Baltimore, Maryland, and then in Washington D.C. In his 1942 draft registration card he listed his place of work as the U.S. Government Navy Yard and named his mother as his nearest relative.

[Draft Registration Cards for District of Columbia, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947, Fold3.com. Original source: The National Archive.]

Josiah died at the age of 53 and is buried in the National Cemetery in Baltimore.

He was named for his great great grandfather Josiah Freeman, the ancestor we both trace to.

[Ancestry.com]

*Christine shared a much earlier version of the same type of certificate for her paternal fourth great grandfather Solomon Joseph Hartley (1775-1815).


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: In Cameron County, Texas

The little girl in these photos is Eugenie Evelyn Jackson (1930-1998), the stepdaughter of a paternal third cousin, once removed, Eugenius Nesbit Freeman Jr.* who married her mother in 1936. School and newspaper records for Eugenie and her older sister Jessie show that they commonly used the Freeman surname but gave their correct maiden name when they got married.

I've identified the car as a 1932 Plymouth Coupe (note the rumble seat) and Eugenie looks to be about four so the photo dates to about 1934/35 and may have belonged to her birth father John I. Jackson.

According to the relative who posted these pictures, Gladys was the name of Eugenie's doll.

[Both photos shared to one of her public Ancestry.com family trees by agadobetty]

*As far as I can tell, E.N. Freeman (as he preferred to be known) never had any children of his own.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: Peter Worden II - New Plymouth, New England, 1680 (Part III)

When the elder Peter Worden left everything including "all my lands Leases tenaments with goods movable and unmovable in ye Towne of Clayton in ye County of Lankester" to his only son Peter Worden II (who accompanied his father to Massachusetts in about 1638) both men would have known what that property was and had some idea of its worth. 

However by 1680 no one seems to have been able to judge what value to put on the property described as "all my estate in old England both land and other estate that came by my wife*" in the Peter II's will. 

["Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997D-V3D1?cc=2018320&wc=M6BX-F29%3A338083801 : 20 May 2014), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 516 of 616; State Archives, Boston.]

Item an Interest in house and land and mony in old England
not knowing what it may be worth                                              xxx--00---0
Item an house and land both upland and meddows
in the Towne of Yarmouth                                                            500--00--0


Peter II's oldest son Samuel Worden was the main beneficiary of his father's will and he and his mother Mary acted as executors of his estate, giving their oath that the inventory** was true.

["Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997D-V3D1?cc=2018320&wc=M6BX-F29%3A338083801 : 20 May 2014), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 516 of 616; State Archives, Boston.]

This  2i of March 1680
Samuell Worden and Mary Worden the Relict of the
said Peter Worden maid oath to the truth of this inventory
Before mee John Freeman Assistant?;                   John Miller
                                                                               John Hall Junior:
                                                                               Paul Sears: ????


*Although there are claims made that Peter II's wife Mary's maiden name was Winslow or Seares, I'm not comfortable with either name. In any case, we don't know what property in England she had brought to the marriage.
**I will cover the complete inventory of Peter II in a later post.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: Feriby/Pheraby Sowell - Bertie County, North Carolina, 1814

Last week we looked at the administrator's bond and inventory of Feraby's estate but I postponed examination of the final settlement because the document is large and isn't available online as a single image.*

Affixed to the top of the page is this order from the court:

State of North Carolina}

Bertie County Court   } May Term 1814

                                   Ordered that Hardy

Freeman, Timothy Walton, William Jones and

Mills Jornagan or any three of them

audit & Settle the Accounts of James Ward

admn of Fereby Ward dec'd and that

they make return to next Court

           Test. Jas[?] Blunt[?]

[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.]

The Estate of Pheriby Ward dec'd in account with James Ward administrator
======================================================================
1814                                                                                    1814
Feb.          To cash paid Clerk fees           £     18     0         Mar       By account Sale   £181 19   2½

                 To cash paid for keeping old}                                         By bal. due adm.      62 [damage]
                      Negro                               }     4    0    0         _________________________________
                 To my account against said  }
                 dec'd estate rendered            }   135   4    7
                 Comm allowed admn                 4                                                                                         
                                                                  £144  9    7                                                          £144  9    7


                 To bal. due admin.                £ 62   10   4½
                
State of North Carolina}
       Bertie County     } In Pursuant to the annexed order from the Worshipful the County Court of Bertie to us directed We the undersigned have audited and Stated the accounts of James Ward admn. of Pheraby Ward dec'd and find a balance due the administrator of Sixty two pounds ten shillings and four pence half penny as above stated which is respectfully Submitted to your Worships approbation Given under our honor
                                                                                  Hardy Freeman
                                                                                  Timo. Walton
                                                                                  Wm. Jones
                                                                                   Mills Jernigan

You may be wondering why the amounts are mentioned denoted in pounds/shillings/pence but apparently the reference isn't to the British pound sterling but a carryover of the North Carolina pound. Here's the best explanation I've found.



*Here's a scan of the reverse of the entire document.

From the Probate Files: Thomas Ward - Bertie County, North Carolina, 1796

At the end of my Monday post about his second wife, Pheraby Sowell, I promised to look into her husband Thomas Ward's will which he made in March of 1795.* Although he described himself as "being sick and weake in body" at the time it wasn't presented in Bertie County probate court until the November court term of 1796. It's clear from its provisions that Thomas was a wealthy man who was able to bequeath land, slaves, livestock and beds and furniture to his surviving family members.

I have transcribed the parts of the will that mention Pheraby in red.

In the name of God amen (March fourteenth year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety five)
I Thomas Ward of Bertie County and state of North
Carolina being sick and weake but of sound of body
but of sound and disposing mind and memory thanks
be unto God for the same and calling to mind the
uncertainty of this mortal life and knowing it is
appointed once for all men to die, do make and or-
dain this my last will and Testament in manner and
form ^as^ followith ----
Item First  I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife
Pheraby Ward one negro woman named Sufia half
of my hogs three cows and calves four ewes and lambs
one horse called Springer one bridle & saddle one bed and
furniture to dispose of as she shall or may think proper
I also lend my beloved wife two negroes one negro man
named Black Dave one Girl named Hester all my
plantation utensils and Kitchen furniture that I have

not given away to the several Legatees in their legacies
during her natural life with the uses of my houses &
plantation I now live
Item  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Winiford
Holley one negro woman Pegg and her increase one bed
and furniture one large Iron pott two cows and calves which
said property is now in her possession. I say to her and her heirs
forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my son Michael Ward
one negro boy named Simon one Stear one bed and furni-
ture all which is now in his possession Except the negro boy
I say to him and his heirs forever I likewise lind my son
Michael Ward the plantation whereon he now lives his na-
tural life and after his death I give and desire the said
land and plantation unto my Grandson William Ward
son of the said Michael Ward I say to him and his heirs
forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my son James Ward four
hundred acres of land whereon he now lives one negro boy
Go one bed and furniture one Gun one cow & calf which
is now in his possession I say to him and his heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my son Isaac Hill Ward
one Negroe boy named Charles one bed and furniture
two cows and calves to him and his heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my son Joshua Ward the
Land plantation whereon I now live with all my 
Land adjoining thereto two negroes (to wit) Yellow

David and one boy named James one bed & furniture
one paid of Grist Mill Stones one paid of hand mill stones
one whipsaw one croscut saw one yoke of oxen cart
and wheels & one brandy Still I say to him and his heirs
forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Mary
Garrett one negro girl named Jumima to her and
her heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Martha
Luten one negro girl named Rose one bed ^and^ furniture
one Linnen wheel two cows and calves four head of 
Sheep all which she hath now possession of and one
walnut desk I say to her and her heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Pheraby
Sparkman one negroe boy named Daniel one bed
and furniture on linnen wheel two cows & calves and
one looking Glass all of which she hath heretofore received
I say to her and her heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth
Ward one negro woman named Lidia and her child
named Rachel one bed and furniture one Linnen 
wheel two cows and calves two ewes and Lambs
I say to her and her heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Ann Outlaw a
Negroe woman named Dinah one bed and furniture 
one Linnen wheel two cows and calves which she hath
heretofore received and two ewes and Lambs I say to her & to her

heirs forever ----
Item  I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elendar
Ward one Negroe man Black David one Negroe Girl
named Hester after the death of my beloved wife
Pheraby Ward likewise on bed and furniture one Linnen
wheel two cows & calves two ewes and Lambs - I say
to her and her heirs forever I also will and desire that
the house before mentioned in my beloved wife's Legacy
shall be given & I do hereby give and bequeath them
to my said Daughter Elendar Ward (after the decease of
my beloved wife to her and her heirs forever ----
Item  I hereby inpower and direct my Executors to make
a good and lawfull Rite and Title To Jeremiah Freeman
for a certain messuage or tenement track or parcel
of Land which I now hold under entry which land Jno.
Freeman dec'd bought of Michael Brittain the said Jere
miah Freeman paying to them the cost and Expense
of saving the same ----
Item  I will and desire that all my just debts and
funeral charges be paid and discharged and that
the remainding part of my Estate that hath not
before been mentioned be sold and my Just
debts funeral charges & be paid & discharged out
of the money arising therefrom and that the 
remainding part be equally divided amongst
my six children Joshua Ward  Martha Luten  Pheraby
Sparkman  Elizabeth Ward  Ann Outlaw  Elendar

Ward ----
Item  Lastly I constitute and appoint my friend
Solomon Cherry and my three sons Isaac H. Ward  James
Ward and Joshua Ward Executors to this my last will
and Testament and I do hereby Revoke disallow and
make void all my former wills and Testaments heretofore
by me made and ratifying this and no other to be my
last will and Testament
Signed Sealed & Delivered }          Thos. Ward
in the presence of . . . .        }
Gen Wm. Watford
Jona. Spivey
Jno. Campbell

State of No. Carolina     }    Nover. Term 1796 ----
     Bertie County           }   The last will and Testament
of Thomas Ward dec'd. was proved in open Court
by the Oaths of Wm. Watford & Jonathan Spivey
two of the subscribing witnesses and ordered to be
recorded ----                                     George Grayble



Next week I'll look at Pheraby's probate records from 1813.

Thomas and Pheraby/Feriby are the great grandparents of my great great grandmother Martha Heath Hardy, the wife of J.T.S. Warren.



*Actually I got it wrong, confusing him with another ancestor, who died five years after making the will presented in probate. (I've corrected the original post.)


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Another "We're Related" Celebrity DNA Match That Looks Legit

It looks like Mom and I actually might have another legit famous cousin, this time via Josiah Freeman (1763-1824): actor Chace Crawford! (I had to look him up, I'm a bit behind on who most of the newer actors are).

Although the app has predicted many famous cousins, I don't find most of them credible because the app seems to add ancestors I have not vetted nor particularly believe.  The only ones I have believed so far besides the Chace Crawford estimate is actually former President Barack Obama and Genea-Musings' own Randy Seaver :-)



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.