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.

Wedding Day: Jane J. O'Brien (1876 - 1974) and Roy O'Connor Trainer (1873 - 1948)

While I'm visiting her here in France I've been looking at what can be learned about my best friend Bonnie's ancestors using Newspapers.com. Since several generations of her mother's lineage lived in Fort Worth, Indiana, there's quite a bit, starting with this report of the marriage of her grandparents which took place on August 19, 1902.

[20 Aug 1902, Page 5 - Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel at Newspapers.com]

Although her mother's family passed down lots of photos, stories, mementos and even a genealogical scrapbook created by her Aunt Janette, this clipping had quite a few details about that long-ago day that were new to Bonnie

Here's a photo of Fort Wayne's Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where the ceremony took place. The priest who married the couple was Father William D. Sullivan who had just been ordained the previous May.

[Fort Wayne Indiana~Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception~Catholic Church~1907.

Source: HipPostcard.com]

There must have been pictures of the wedding party in the family's collection, but none seem to have made their way to France. In their place here's a portrait of Jennie taken about 1900 followed by the 1902 city directory entry for the law firm she had worked for.

[Courtesy of Bonnie Groves Poppy]

[Fort Wayne, Indiana, city directory by R.L. Polk & Co.1902. Source: Archive.org.]

There doesn't appear to be an available picture of Roy as a young man however I did find an earlier photo of the factory where he worked.

[From c.1890 Fort Wayne (Packard) Organ Factory catalog.

Source: The Packard Organ]

From the description of her attire as "a costume of tan silk mull, over turquoise silk taffeta" it's clear that Jennie didn't wear a typical white wedding dress. And the description of her hat as "a large white beaver, with ostrich plumes and turquoise velvet trimmings" makes me hope that a wedding photo is forthcoming!

I imagine Jennie's dress would have had the same general lines as this 1902 wedding dress worn by a bride in Montana.

[The Montana Historical Society Collection Wedding Dresses Pinterest Board]

As for the fashionable hat shapes in 1902 here are some Easter bonnets.

[The Delineator "Pretty Hats for Easter" 1902 from Pinterest]

However we should keep in mind that Jennie's large hat was described as white beaver which means it was furry (whether real or artificial material is unclear) This black beaver hat (from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and described as early 20th century and probably later than 1902) shows the texture of the fur contrasted with ostrich feathers.

[Woman's Hat, Label Strawbridge & Clothier, Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Emily W. Cunningham]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday is for Mothers: Jane Allen

Facts about my seventh great grandmother Jane Allen are scarce. She was apparently born in Surry County, Virginia, in about 1639 but no one seems to know who her parents were. She was the widow of a John or Michael King when she became the third wife of Thomas Warren in 1658. The couple had four sons (that we know of); the third of whom was Robert Warren who is in my direct line.

After Thomas Warren died on April 21, 1670, there was "controversie and variance" about how his property should be divided between Jane and Matthias Marriott, the husband of her stepdaughter Alyce, whose mother (name unknown) was Thomas Warren's first wife. At issue also was the estate of the recently deceased William Warren, the other known child of Thomas and his first wife. The agreement reached in the case is recorded in a transcript of Book I, 1652-1672 beginning at the bottom of the first page shown below, continuing at the top of the second page.

[Source: Ancestry.com. Surry County Records [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Original data: Davis, Eliza Timberlake. Surry County Records. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995.]

As seen about half way down the second page above, Jane's relationship with another stepdaughter, Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas's second wife Elizabeth Spencer, seems to have been more cordial as she was a witness to a prenuptial agreement between Elizabeth Warren and John Hunnicutt in January 1670/71 so that Elizabeth would retain control of her inherited goods after their marriage.

Some sources claim that Jane Allen King Warren was married again to a Samuel Plow or Plaw although I don't know where that information comes from because she disappears from records after the Surry County records shown above. Even her date of death is unknown.

© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.