Working on Wednesday: John Sowell (About 1715 - 1755), Planter

The only document we have regarding this paternal six-times great grandfather is his will, written on March 28, 1750, in which he described himself as "Being Verry Sick and weak in Body But of Sound and Perfect Memory Blessed be God for the Same[.]"*

However ill John may have been at the time he made his will he didn't die for nearly five years and the document wasn't presented for probate until the February Court in Bertie County, North Carolina, in 1755.

[A new & accurate map of the provinces of North & South Carolina, Georgia &c. published by Emanuel Bowen, London 1752.

Source: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

Unfortunately (for us), John didn't mention his occupation (as is sometimes to be found in old wills) but it's clear from the bequests that he was a landowner. His eldest son, also named John, was named as inheritor of "all my Land and Plantation whereon I Now Live[.]" The younger John was also to receive "a Legesie Left to him By his Grandfather Richard Sowell a Legesie of ten Pounds ten Shillings and four pence Virginia Currency to be Delivered to him when he Comes of age[.]"*

[Wills, Vol 28-30, Sco-Sut, 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.]

   
This father didn't leave his two younger sons, James and Francis any land but each was to receive a "Steal trap," a gun and some livestock. James's bequest also included "one Set of Cuppers Tuals" and "my Negro boy Robin" and his brother was left one "Set of Shewmakers Tuals" and "Twelve Pounds Virginia money to be Paid out of the Estate."

John's beloved wife Ann (Worley) Sowell and their four daughters "Mary[,] Elisbeth[,], Feriby[,]** Ann" were to share equally in the remainder of the estate and that the girls "may have their Portions Delivered to them when they come to the age of fifteen years old."

[Wills, Vol 28-30, Sco-Sut, 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.]

*At the time none of his children were of age as is noted with each bequest.
**Thereby confirming the name of the testator's father.
***Feriby, my direct ancestor, married Thomas Ward and their great granddaughter Martha Heath Hardy is my great great grandmother.

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