There was a time when we thought they were Jacoby Watts and
Elizabeth Harrison but we never found any evidence of it except for the surname. So that proposed relationship went from "speculative" to "doubtful" and was duly purged from our family tree.
Now we think there's a possibility that a man named Thomas Watts, a Morgan County* neighbor of Timney and Jesse Warren Jr., who was appointed administrator of Jesse Jr.'s estate, could be a relative of Timney, perhaps even her father or brother.
Here are the probate records setting a bond of $12,500 and naming Thomas Watts as administrator.
Georgia }
Morgan County }
Know all men by these presents that we Thomas
Watts William Stocks & Benjamin S ogletree are
held and firmly bound by their honors the Justices of
the Inferior Court sitting in a Court of ordinary for
Said County and their Successors in Office in the just
and full Sum of Ten thousand Dollars five hundred
Dollars for the payment of which sum to the said parties
and their successors we bind ourselves our heirs executors administrators
In the whole and for the whole ^sum^ Jointly and severally and formaly
by these presents Sealed with our Seals and dated this third
day of July 1826 This condition of the above obligation
Is Suck That if the above named Thomas Watts administrator
of the goods chattles and credits of Jesse Warren late of
this County deceased do make a just and true ^& perfect^ inventory
["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93L-59PL?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-MNY%3A267727201%2C267727202 : 20 May 2014), Morgan > image 174 of 441;
county probate courthouses, Georgia.]
of all ^Singular^ the goods chattles and credits of Said deceased
which have or shall come to the hands possession or knowledge of
Said administrator or into the hands or possession of any
other person or persons for him, and the same so made to
exhibit into the Said Court of Ordinary when he shall
be thereunto required and such goods chattles and credits do
well administer according to law and to make a true and
just account of his actings and doings therein when he shall
there unto be required by the Superior Court or the Court of ordinary
for Said County and all the rest of the goods chattles and credits
which shall be found remaining uppon the account of the Said administra
tion the Same being first allowed by the Court shall deliver
and pay to such person or persons respectfully as are entitled to the sum
by law and If Shall hereafter appear that any last will and
testament was made by the said deceased, and the same
be proved before the Court, and the executors affirm
a certificate of the probate thereof and the Said Thomas Watts
do in Such case, if required, render and deliver up said letter
of administration then the obligation to be void or remain in
full force.
Signed Sealed and acknowledged Thomas Watts [Seal]
in Open Court Wm Stocks [Seal]
Benjamin S Ogletree
Recorded this 7th October 1826
John W Porter C.C.O.
Thomas Watts was one of a number of men with the Watts surname in Morgan County. There are several other probates naming Thomas Watts as either an administrator or a guardian of an orphan and I'll be examining them in hopes of teasing out the relationships of the Watts family members in future posts.
In the meantime, here's the signatures to an 1823 bond and letters of administration issued to Pleasant Watts for the estate of a man named John Bailey. As you can see, three out of the four are named Watts.
["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93L-59YL?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-MNY%3A267727201%2C267727202 : 20 May 2014), Morgan > image 126 of 441;
county probate courthouses, Georgia.]
*Morgan County, Georgia, was where
Timney P. Watts and Jesse Warren were married. Since we know that Jesse Jr.'s family ties were in Hancock County, it seems likely that Timney's were in Morgan.
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