[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
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.
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.
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