The Distribution of Jonathan Godwin's Estate, part 1

In this series of posts, I show how I used original estate and deed records to track the distribution of land originally patented by Jonathan Godwin in Sampson County, North Carolina in 1788; I also try to build a case to suggest that Nathan and Dred Godwin were the sons of Jonathan and Rachel Godwin.

In this post, I will look at the estate record of Jonathan Godwin of Sampson County, North Carolina who died intestate about 1791. (Intestate means he did not leave a will). He left behind a widow, Rachel Godwin, who is believed to be the sister of Thomas Bullard and daughter of Jeremiah Bullard. His estate record, however, was only a single page and did not mention either his widow Rachel, or any of his children. The only clues I was able to glean from this record were the following:

1. Richard Godwin was the administrator of the estate 
2. There was only 50 acres of land in the possession of the estate

Estate records are housed at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, North Carolina. They can be requested by call number in the form of a two digit county code (Sampson County's code is 87), followed by a "508" which is the 3-digit code for estate records, followed by the number of the box in which the folder is housed that contains the surname of interest. The box number is not  known when you request the file, but should be noted for future reference.

The estate file of Jonathan Godwin[1] contained only a single page with writing on both sides. One side stated that it was an inventory of his estate recorded in that court's term; The other side is an actual inventory taken by the administrator, Richard Godwin. Here are the scans of the front and back copies of the single page. (Click on the image to make it bigger). The transcript follows below:

Back side:

"Inventory of the Estate of John Godwin dec’d, May Term 1791"

Front side:

"Sampson County the 15^th of Feb 1792

An inventory of the Estate of Jonathan Godwin Deceased
50 Acres of Land
3 Head of Horses
1 Heifer
12 Head of Sheep
48 Head of Hog
3 Beds and Furniture
4 Dishes, 5 Basons
6 Spoons and 4 Plates
3 Knives and 7 Forks
2 Pots and 1 Kettle
2 Spinning Wheels
2 Pairs of Cards

1 Chest 12 Bottles
2 Jugs 1 Hackle
2 Chairs 2 Ploughs
2 Axes 1 Iron wedge
3 Weeding Hoes 1 Grubbing Hoe
2 Augers 1 chissel and Gouge
1 Griddle and fire Tongs
1 Box Iron and Heater
1 Mares Saddle

Richard Godwin" (signed)

[End of Transcript]

There was actually another document included in this file at one time pertaining to Jonathan's widow. Supposedly, it got lost when it was sent off for microfilming [2] 

In an estate record of 15 February 1791, Rachel Godwin, the “widow of Jonathan Godwin, deceased,” was allowed to keep the estate in her hands, "she entering into bond with good security for 250 pounds." Tenders Richard Godwin and Philip Tew were approved as sureties. This is a crucial piece of evidence tying both Jonathan and Rachel together as husband and wife.  

Jonathan actually owned two tracts of land, both 50 acres a piece, however only one of these tracts of land was included in his estate inventory. He may have given the other tract of land to one of his sons prior to his death.  Nathan Godwin, presumed to be a son of Jonathan and Rachel Godwin, sold a 50 acre tract of land to Elizabeth Bagley in 1801, it being a tract of land "granted to Jonathan Godwin by patent bearing the 10th day of July 1788." This could be the other 50 acre tract of land and will be discussed in Part 3 of this post series. 

The 50 acres tract of land that WAS included in his inventory above was sold by his widow Rachel Godwin, along with Nathan and Dred Godwin, in 1795 to John Dormond. This deed of sale will be discussed in Part 2 of this post series. I believe the Nathan and Dred Godwin who were included on this deed with Rachel Godwin were sons of Jonathan and Rachel Godwin. This land was a "parcel...granted to Jonathan Godwin by patent bearing date July 1788." Jonathan Godwin was only granted a total of two tracts of land and the descriptions match up, so I believe these two tracts of land to be those originally belonging to Jonathan, one of which was given to his son Nathan prior to his death and the other passed down to his widow Rachel and sold between Rachel and her sons Dred and Nathan to John Dormond after Jonathan's death. 

I had to use a combination of original deed and estate records in order to start piecing together this family. The family of Jonathan and Rachel Bullard Godwin is a very controversial one and my construction of their family is actually very different than what has been previously portrayed and accepted as fact by other researchers. However, I am confident that I have sufficient evidence and I have already written up several proof statements backing up my claims. Living in North Carolina where my Godwin family originated from has been very helpful; in addition, having such easy access to the North Carolina State Archives has also been a tremendous help in my research. 

Sources: 

[1] Estate Records of Jonathan Godwin, 1791, North Carolina State Archives, Sampson County, NC, Series of Original Loose Documents of Estate Records, 1784-1923; Call No. 087.508.23; Copied 20 January 2007;

[2] Bizzell, Oscar. Sampson County Court Minute Abstracts, 1784-1800, p. 117. This information was included in Bizzell’s Abstracts, however, the Raleigh archives does not have the actual documents from 1784 to 1794. The microfilmed court records start at 1794. Jerome Tew said these records were removed from Clinton for publishing, however, they were never returned, thus lost. Bizzell copied this abstracted information from an earlier typed abstract of the court minutes.

The Distribution of Jonathan Godwin's Estate, Part 1
The Distribution of Jonathan Godwin's Estate, Part 2
The Distribution of Jonathan Godwin's Estate, Part 3

Distribution of Property of David McCoy of Greenville, SC

My great-grandmother, Blanche Kathryne Hill, was the granddaughter of Josephine F Cox and Joseph Watson Hill of Greenville, South Carolina. Josephine and Joseph Hill moved from Greenville, South Carolina to Center Point, Howard County, Arkansas in 1869.

Josephine had been left an orphan at a young age. Her father, Robert Cox, died when she was just 8 years old and her mother, Basheba McCoy Cox, followed a couple of years later in 1852.  Josephine's mother, Basheba McCoy, had also been left without a father at a young age. Her father, David McCoy, had died when Basheba was only 16 years of age. However Basheba and her sisters were already married off with husbands by the time their father passed away.

The following distribution of property from David McCoy's estate file provides a list of names of his 4 daughters - Louisa, Teeley, Shaloma and Basheba in addition to their husbands' names:


Amount of Property Advanced in the lifetime of David McCoy late deceased:

Ezekial Spriggs Husband of his 1st Daughter Louisa
4 Negros $975
and other property to the amount of $55 -- total $1030

Benjamin McKenzie Husband of his 2nd Daughter Teeley
2 Negroes & other property $553 - 2 = $551
deduct $2 for bedsted

Robert Cox Husband of his 3 Daughter Barsheba
2 Negroes & other property to the amt $774

Asa May Husband of his 4 Daughter Shaloma
2 Negroes and other property to the amount $755

Estimated by us this 29th of November 1822

Geo Salmon
Joseph Cobbs
Thos Blyth

David McCoy died around 1822 in Greenville County, South Carolina. No will was found for him in Greenville County. He preceded his wife Susan McCoy in Death (last name unknown). 

His estate was managed by his administrator, Robert Cox (husband of his daughter, Basheba McCoy Cox). David McCoy's estate files were downloaded from the FamilySearch.org website, "South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964." These records were microfilmed by FamilySearch at the Greenville County Probate Court. David McCoy's estate papers were contained in File no. 339. 

From this page, we learned the following: 

Basheba McCoy married Robert Cox

Louisa McCoy married Ezekial Spriggs

Teeley McCoy married Benjamin McKenzie

Shaloma McCoy married Asa May

I have several Family Finder DNA matches to people with the Cox surname in their family trees. I also am a match to a couple of McKenzies. This might be the connection to them.

Here is my line to my Great-Grandmother Blanche (father's side):
Me
Dad (Tim Smith)
Grandmother (Barbara Binns)
Great-Grandmother (Blanche Hill)

Many Alamance County Records now Offsite at Archives

I just received this notice from the North Carolina State Archives today on their blog, History For All the People. One item to note is that many records in Alamance County, including the Record of Wills, are stored offsite and are no longer available for viewing on Saturday. If you would like access to any of the following records from Alamance County on a Saturday, you will need to call 919-807-7310 to request to view them.  

Polk County:
 ·         Record of Inheritance Tax, 1921-1968; C.R.080.513.1 (Arranged alphabetically by last name of the deceased)
 ·         You may also find Inheritance tax records in the loose estate records (C.R.080.508).

 Alamance County:
 (Records stored offsite.  No access available on Saturday.  Please call (919-807-7310) and request to view volumes on Saturday.)
 ·         Record of Wills, 1849-1968; C.R.001.801.9-C.R.001.801.30
 ·         Record of Administrators, 1902-1968; C.R.001.504.1-C.R.001.504.16 (15 volumes)
 ·         Record of Settlements, 1919-1951; C.R.001.518.4-C.R.001.518.10 (7 volumes)
 ·         Guardian Bonds, 1910-1953; C.R.001.511.3-C.R.001.511.5 (3 volumes)
 ·         Guardian Returns, 1879-1951; C.R.001.509.02-C.R.001.509.06 (5 volume)
 ·         Guardian Record, 1954-1963; C.R.001.509.07 (1 volume)
 ·         Record of Guardians and Trustees, 1963-1968; C.R.001.509.08 (1 volume)
 ·         Record of Accounts, 1932-1951; C.R.001.501.04-C.R.001.501.07 (4 volumes)

I LOVE using the Will Records! These are the original wills written by or for my ancestors. These records are organized first by county, then alphabetically within each county, then by date, so it is really easy to find all of the people of the same surname who wrote wills in each county because they are all grouped together in the same box. I'm kind of surprised that the Alamance County Wills are being stored offsite because in my mind, it seems as if it is a break in the collection. If I were looking for a will in Randolph County, for example, and I did not find it, the next place I would look would be in Alamance County because they are right next to each other. Since I can only go to the Archives on Saturdays, I would have to plan ahead of time for them to pull all of those records for me prior to my arrival. 

Also, I usually investigate the Guardian returns, records, and accounts at the same time I look at the wills and estate files, so it seems again odd to me that the Estate files would be left onsite for Alamance County, but the wills and associated administration and guardian records would be stored offsite. 

Oh, and did you notice that in the Record of Wills for Alamance County listed above, that the list starts at box 9? Does anyone else find that odd? Why not start at box 1? Hmmm.....

I just found out about the Record of Inheritance Tax files last week. They are not really of much interest to me because most of them did not start until the 1920s. However if you are researching in Orange County, NC, these records started in 1820!!! So do check them out if have exhausted all avenues (wills, estates, guardians, etc) and looking for something new to check out. You can check out the complete list here. 

Francesca, “Recent Transferred County Records: Alamanace and Polk Counties,” History For All the People, posted 24 May 2012 (http://ncarchives.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/recent-transferred-county-records-alamance-and-polk-counties-2/ : accessed 24 May 2012). 

Ginger Smith, "Many Alamance County Records now Offsite at Archives," Genealogy by Ginger, posted 24 May 2012, (http://genealogybyginger.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). 

Looking for *Estates* in all the Right Places...

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how the North and South Carolina wills and probate record images have been scanned and placed online for users to browse on the FamilySearch.org website.

Today I was trying to find the probate record for Susan McCoy in Greenville County, SC (1847-1850) and grew increasingly frustrated when I realized that the index (if one existed) was not posted to the FamilySearch.org site. Without an index, I could not figure out what "apartment," "file," or "no." her probate records were filed in. I looked through a bunch of the images to see if I could determine if they were filed by date or by surname, but they were not. I simply needed an index.

On a whim, I went to the Greenville Co., SC USGenWeb site thinking they MUST have an index posted somewhere. Although I didn't find an index I did find a link to the Greenville County Governement Online - with a page dedicated to historical records and there I found an Index to Estate Papers, 1787-1976. I clicked on the "M" link for "McCoy" and it brought up the browsable image index for all the "Ms." This is what I found:

McCoy, David - Apartment No. 5, File No. 339, Year filed 1822, Robert Cox, Admr.
McCoy, Susan - Apartment No. 11, File No. 74, Year filed 1847, Robert Cox, Exor.

Here's what the scanned image looks like:

This is exactly what I was looking for!

Now I have TWO - actually THREE Options: 1) I can go back to FamilySearch.org and look for these probate records in the browsable images 2) I can stay on this site and look for these records or 3) I can do BOTH!

Option #1: 
Searching for Estate Records at FamilySearch.org:

Now I can go back to the browsable images posted on the FamilySearch.org website:

South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964

Click on the link for Greenville, click the "Probate Court, Probate Records" link, the "1787-1868" date range.

A list of file numbers come up. Since I am looking for file no. 5, I click the link for "Files 04-06, Nos. 215-420."  (Although the link has been included here, I cannot guarantee it will continue to work longterm, so please follow my description of how I found the files.) 


This is the hard part. This set of images only contains file nos. 4, 5, and 6. I have to find file no. 5 in there somehow. I know no. 5 is in the middle somewhere. At the top, it says I am on image 1 of 730. So there are 730 images in this set. That means the middle is probably about image no. 375. I can type in 375 into the Image No. box and press enter to go directly to that image.  This gives me the estate record for Jesse Moody. Going back one page brings up the first page of his estate record which says it is file no. 338. So all I need to do is fast forward until the end and that should take me to David McCoy's file no. 339.

I only had to go 2 more pages to get to David McCoy's file. The first page was missing, however, so I might want to order the entire record from the South Carolina State Archives if I feel as if it is not complete.

**OR**

Option #2: 

Stay on the Greenville County Government Site and Searching for Estate Records:

Click on the Estate Records link. 

Click on the Apt 0004 File 265 - Apt 0006 File 366 Link

Start going through images as above. This is system is much slower and the images are of poorer quality. 

HOWEVER, I retrieved only 9 images from the FamilySearch.org site and I retrieved 22 images from the Greenville County Government site!!! 

So my recommendation is... 

Option #3:

DO BOTH!!! - This just goes to show you that even in the realm of genealogy, things really are changing relatively quickly. Sometimes we have to check several places before we give up and then check them again because new things are being added all the time. 

A word of caution: **If** you do pull records from both, please make sure you cite them properly. If you found one loose piece of paper listing all of the children of the deceased off of one site, but that same piece of paper is NOT uploaded to the other site, then it is YOUR responsibility to note that. 

Now if you have ancestors from Greenville, South Carolina, be sure to check out the Greenville County, SC Government Online Historical Records page !!!

North Carolina Probate Records on FamilySearch.org

I have been looking for the parents of Jesse Dunlap, my fifth great-grandfather. I found an article written about Jesse Dunlap in the book A History of Boone County Arkansas (p. 217) in which it is said that Jesse Dunlap was born in Stokes County, North Carolina in 1783. The only problem is that Stokes County wasn’t formed until 1789.

But all information is good information in my opinion, so I decided to use that as a starting point. Whenever I am looking for someone’s parents and I don’t have anything to go on except a location, I usually start by looking through the wills for that surname in that location.

The North Carolina State Archives has access to the Mitchell’s Will Index through their online catalog called MARS. Sometimes a person didn’t write a will, but there are items relating to their estate recorded in the county in which they died. Items relating to a person’s estate have been scanned and digitized by FamilySearch.org. Although the digital items have not been indexed, they are browsable online for FREE on their website and many of the county records have indexes contained within the bound books.

Some genealogists might wonder what the benefit of such documents are if you can’t do a collection-wide textual search for your ancestors’ names. I still find the images useful. I loaded the images for the North Carolina Probate Records, 1735-1970 and then selected Stokes County. Under Stokes County, there are 5 sets of wills – volumes 1-5. 

Volumes 1, 3, and 5 have an index at the beginning; volumes 2 and 4 do not. I do not want to miss any Dunlaps who might have recorded a will in either of these two volumes, so I look through both volumes, one image at a time. Volume 2 has 184 images which is roughly about 90 pages total because each image is a scan of two pages of the book. As I “browse” through each image, I look for the signature or name of the person who wrote the will. I don’t actually have to read each wills, but merely scan through the images for the short block of text that looks like a signature to see if it is a Dunlap. Here is an example of a will written by Fredric Hausen.

I don’t have the best attention span, but browsing through 182 images is not that bad. It took me about 40 minutes to look through this volume containing 182 images. Unfortunately I did not find any Dunlaps in this volume. Volume 4 will probably take me another 40 minutes as it is 197 images.

Have you checked out FamilySearch’s latest browsable images? North Carolina and South Carolina Probate Records have been very valuable to me these days!

More NGS Conference Fun (Day 2)

Day 2 (Thursday, May 12, 2011) was full of BCG skills building with Thomas Jones, case study analysis of deeds and wills with Elizabeth Shown Mills, and Carolina record reviews with Brent Holcomb and Mark Lowe.

THE BCG – WHAT IS IT?

The Board for Certified Genealogist accreditation process is something you go through to become a Bard Certified Genealogist. This process is based on standards set forth by experts in the field of genealogy; it encompasses not just genealogy, but professionalism, writing skills, and ethics as well. It incorporates the BCG Standards Manual (picture on the left) and tests your skills in several different areas.  This was not just an information class. This instruction discussed each section of the application, what materials were required to complete them, what skills were tested, and how each section was evaluated.

Recommendations

The instructors recommended to start compiling your materials prior to submitting your preliminary application because you only have 1 year to complete the pocess; they also suggested that you read back issues of the NGSq, the BCG’s OnBoard newsletter, The American Genealogist and relevant chapters from the Professional Genealogy book that apply to each section of the application. You can also download articles, test questions, and examples from the skill building section of the BCG website.

What’s New?

1)      There is no longer a 5 yr waiting period to apply for the Certified Genealogical Lecturer accreditation

2)      Applicants must submit the original manuscripts of works if they’ve been previously published

3)      Each work sample must involve different individuals and families

4)      The case study format is no longer an option for the kinship-determination project

What is the Pass/Fail Rate?

The percentage of applicants who pass is 42 due to an insufficient amount of sources, poorly written citations, and inability to follow directions.  Word to the wise: Make sure you are ready and serious about becoming a Certified Genealogist, have someone check over your work and your citations and read other case studies!

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA

ANALYZING DEEDS AND WILLS

I See What It Says, But What Does It Mean by Elizabeth Shown Mills

This was my first challenging session of the conference and my introduction to a case study in a classroom environment – Just up my alley! Oh – and of course, my introduction to ESM herself!

The session started with a will that we evaluated line by line. A few things I learned right off the bat:

1)      Most wills were “scribed” by a lawyer and presented to the testator who signed it or left their mark. These “scribed” wills were often templates used by most lawyers to represent basic will drafts. ESM said that all of the religious jargon written in the first paragraph about giving his soul to God, burial in Christian-like and decent manner, etc does not necessarily mean he was a religious man unless this will was holographic and had been written in the testator’s own hand.  

2)      Any will that starts with “In the name of God Amen” was not written or signed by a Quaker as they did not swear to anything.

3)      If the testator requests his slaves be freed, he might be Quaker; however there are other religions that discourage slavery as well like Methodists.

4)      Slave increases followed the mothers, so if “Jessie and Judah and their increase” are to be freed – Jessie and Judah are both mothers, NOT a family unit (mother and father).

5)      “Reputed wife” is a term to describe a woman who is living with a man she is not legally married to probably because she is “making do” with another male’s help; although she and her children have no legal rights to this man’s property.

6)      The “late Mary Smith” is a woman who was formerly known as Mary Smith; she is not deceased.

7)      Many testators gave property to a woman’s children and not to her because she could remarry and the new husband could mismanage the property.

8)      “Trusted friend” was a legal phrase often referring to a non-heir but relative of some sort.

9)      Usually the scribe is the first person who signed the document (witness). You can look for additional docs written by this witness and look for similar spelling errors within each one to determine if he was the scribe. Also, men used distinguishing marks beside their names to tell them apart from other men of the same name.

10)   To “devolve” is to acquire by inheritance

Here are 10 new and important things I learned from the example of a will that we analyzed.

The deed example was equally as difficult to work through, but I was able to follow along the rationale of it. It took good ole genealogy and two or three hypothesis formulation and testing to figure out the most plausible scenario.

Genealogy conferences need to have more case studies like this. I think these kinds of classes help to bridge the gap between the beginner genealogists and the experts.

NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA RECORDS

First up was Brent Holcomb’s talk on land records. He gave a brief history of how land was distributed by the Lord Proprietors and then quickly went through many of the digital images that can be found on the South Carolina Archives website. Everything else kind of either went over my head or way too fast to take in.

Mark Lowe’s presentation on Inheritance Laws and Estate Settlements was a little bit better to manage, but the information was still hard to take in without having actual records or case studies to use as examples. Most of the information was links to save for later for when I encounter a word I an unfamiliar with. Mark tapped into the social media aspect by posting many of his links to his twitter account: @JLowe615.

That sums up the lectures I attended on the 2^nd day of the conference.

Photo of the BCG Standards Manual copied from Amazon website. 

Photo of ESM from NGS Website

Estate Records of Jonathan Godwin of Sampson Co NC

This week I have chosen to focus on the probate record of Jonathan Godwin of Sampson County, North Carolina who died intestate about 1791. He left behind a widow, Rachel Godwin, who is believed to be the sister of Thomas Bullard and daughter of Jeremiah Bullard. His estate record, however, was only a single page and did not mention either his widow Rachel, or any of his children. The only clues I was able to glean from this record were the following:

1. Richard Godwin was the administrator of the estate 
2. There was only 50 acres of land in the possession of the estate

Estate records are housed at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, North Carolina. They can be requested by call number in the form of a two digit county code (Sampson County's code is 87), followed by a "508" which is the 3-digit code for estate records, followed by the number of the box in which the folder is housed that contains the surname of interest. The box number is not  know when you request the file, but should be noted for future reference.

The estate file of Jonathan Godwin[1] contained only a single page with writing on both sides. One side stated that it was an inventory of his estate recorded in that court's term; The other side is an actual inventory taken by the administrator, Richard Godwin. Here are the scans of the front and back copies of the single page. (Click on the image to make it bigger). The transcript follows below:

Back side:

"Inventory of the Estate of John Godwin dec’d, May Term 1791"

Front side:

"Sampson County the 15^th of Feb 1792

An inventory of the Estate of Jonathan Godwin Deceased
50 Acres of Land
3 Head of Horses
1 Heifer
12 Head of Sheep
48 Head of Hog
3 Beds and Furniture
4 Dishes, 5 Basons
6 Spoons and 4 Plates
3 Knives and 7 Forks
2 Pots and 1 Kettle
2 Spinning Wheels
2 Pairs of Cards

1 Chest 12 Bottles
2 Jugs 1 Hackle
2 Chairs 2 Ploughs
2 Axes 1 Iron wedge
3 Weeding Hoes 1 Grubbing Hoe
2 Augers 1 chissel and Gouge
1 Griddle and fire Tongs
1 Box Iron and Heater
1 Mares Saddle

Richard Godwin" (signed)

[End of Transcript]

There was actually another document included in this file at one time pertaining to Jonathan's widow. Supposedly, it got lost when it was sent off for microfilming [2] 

In an estate record of 15 February 1791, Rachel Godwin, the “widow of Jonathan Godwin, deceased,” was allowed to keep the estate in her hands, "she entering into bond with good security for 250 pounds." Tenders Richard Godwin and Philip Tew were approved as sureties. This is a crucial piece of evidence tying both Jonathan and Rachel together as husband and wife.  

Jonathan actually owned two tracts of land, both 50 acres a piece, however only one of these tracts of land was included in his estate inventory. He may have given the other tract of land to one of his sons prior to his death.  Nathan Godwin, presumed to be a son of Jonathan and Rachel Godwin, sold a 50 acre tract of land to Elizabeth Bagley in 1801, it being a tract of land "granted to Jonathan Godwin by patent bearing the 10th day of July 1788." So this could be the other 50 acre tract of land. 

The 50 acres tract of land that WAS included in his inventory above was sold by his widow Rachel Godwin, along with Nathan and Dred Godwin, in 1795 to John Dormond. I believe the Nathan and Dred Godwin who were included on this deed with Rachel Godwin were sons of Jonathan and Rachel Godwin. This land was a "parcel...granted to Jonathan Godwin by patent bearing date July 1788." Jonathan Godwin was only granted a total of two tracts of land and the descriptions match up, so I believe these two tracts of land to be those originally belonging to Jonathan, one of which was given to his son Nathan prior to his death and the other passed down to his widow Rachel and sold between Rachel and her sons Dred and Nathan to John Dormond after Jonathan's death. 

I had to use a combination of several original records and some abstract books in order to start piecing together this family. The family of Jonathan and Rachel Bullard Godwin is a very controversial one and my construction of their family is actually very different than what has been previously portrayed and accepted as fact by other researchers. However, I am confident that I have sufficient evidence and I have already written up several proof statements backing up my claims. Living in North Carolina where my Godwin family originated from has been very helpful; in addition, having such easy access to the North Carolina State Archives has also been a tremendous help in my research. 

Sources: 

[1] Estate Records of Jonathan Godwin, 1791, North Carolina State Archives, Sampson County, NC, Series of Original Loose Documents of Estate Records, 1784-1923; Call No. 087.508.23; Copied 20 January 2007;

[2] Bizzell, Oscar. Sampson County Court Minute Abstracts, 1784-1800, p. 117. This information was included in Bizzell’s Abstracts, however, the Raleigh archives does not have the actual documents from 1784 to 1794. The microfilmed court records start at 1794. Jerome Tew said these records were removed from Clinton for publishing, however, they were never returned, thus lost. Bizzell copied this abstracted information from an earlier typed abstract of the court minutes. 

Amanuensis Monday – John F Dry Estate File

Transylvanian Dutch blog author John Newmark started the Monday blog theme called Amanuensis Monday. According to John, “amanuensis” means:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

This week I am posting a transcript of 2 documents that were included in the estate files of John F Dry of Perry County, Illinois.

John F Dry was born about 1780 and died 25 August 1847 in Perry County, Illinois. John F and Elizabeth Dry’s son, John Moses Dry married Sarah GODWIN, March 30th, 1837, in Perry County, Illinois.

I believe Sarah GODWIN was the sister of my ancestor Elijah GODWIN of Lawrence County, Arkansas.

I have done a lot of research on the DRY family because they were instrumental in reconstructing my GODWIN family once they left Randolph County, North Carolina, moved to Putnam County, Indiana, and finally settled in Perry County, Illinois in the early 1830s.


John F Dry’s sister Ellen married Cornelius GODWIN, and his sister Sarah married (2nd) Nathan GODWIN both of whom were probably both brothers of my ancestor Elijah GODWIN.


Below are two documents. The first is the Administrators Oath of Jeffery Thornsberry. Jeffrey  THORNBERRY  was the 2nd husband of Sarah DRY (the daughter of John F Dry and sister of John Moses Dry). Sarah DRY married 1st to Nathan GODWIN  in 1835. Nathan must have died because in 1840, Sarah married Jeffrey THORNBERRY. 


Jeffrey THORNBERRY testified that his Father-in-Law, John F Dry, died on or about the 25th of August, 1847 without a will. Here is the transcript: 


Administrators Oath, filed 6 Sept 1847


“State of Illinois
Perry County
Act. Jefferson Thornberry duly sworn deposes and says that John F Dry late of said county departed this life on or about the 25th day of Aug 1847 and that so far as he knows or believes, he died without making any last will and testament.
Jefferson Thornberry”


The second document is the “Affidavit of Heirs of John F Dry” filed 4 Oct 1849 in which John F Dry lists all the heirs of his deceased Father, John Moses Dry, and his wife’s name – Elizabeth – who has since died and not produced any more heirs.


"Affadavit of heirs of John F Dry” 
filed 4 Oct 1849


“State of Illinois
Perry County
Act.John M Dry being duly sworn deposes and says that John F. Dry, late of said county deceased left at the time of his death a widow Elizabeth Dry, who is since deceased without other heirs than those herein aforementioned as the heirs of the said John F Dry that the said John F Dry left at the time of his decease:


1.  Daniel M Dry
2.  Leah Jinks, wife of Weston Jinks
3.  Lydia Bridges, wife of John Bridges
4.  John M Dry
5.  Ellen Godwn, wife of Cornelius Godwin
6.  Sally Thornsberry, wife of Jeffrey Thornsberry
7.  Daniel Dry
8.  John Dry
9.  Edmond Dry
10.  Paul Dry
11.  Jackson Dry


His children and heirs of law him surviving who are all now living as far as I know or believe.

John M Dry (his mark)”
--------------------------------

Notes:
The John F Dry Estate file was probate file no. 158 retrieved from the Perry County courthouse by a volunteer for me. This packet also included an admistrator’s oath and a Sale Bill.
Images:

Thornberry’s affidavit of date of death of John F Dry

John M Dry’s affidavit of heirs of John F Dry

Copyright © 2010 by Ginger R. Smith, http://genealogybyginger.blogspot.com/

A Peek into the NC State Archives: Loose Documents of Estate Records

In this post, I'd like to talk about a collection that is part of the Archives: "The Series of Original Loose Documents of Estate Records." This collection contains a serious of documents pertaining to the estates of deceased persons in NC. This collection is sorted by county, then alphabetical by last name.

Documents contained in these files include administrator bonds, affidavits, inventory and estate sales receipts, legal proceedings, division of assets to legatees, etc. These files can be reviewed by filling out a call slip. The call numbers start with a 3-digit prefix assigned to the county of interest. Sampson County's 3-digit prefix is 087. Then the next 3-digits are assigned to document type. For estates, that number is always 508. The last number of the call number is the box number that contains your ancestor's file. This last number is left blank on the call slip. You will put your surname on the call slip instead. They will bring you the box that contains the surname for the county of interest. For example, I might find the loose documents of the estate of Abiah Godwin in Randolph County using the following call number: 081.508.56. Box 56 containing the surname Godwin.

Below is an example of documents contained in the file of Abiah Godwin, Sampson Co., NC (In order of appearance in the file):

Page 1 illustrates how much money the administrator of the estate brought before the judge, probably from the sale of items in the estate. The administrator brought in 79 pounds, 3 shillings, and 11 pence. 39 pounds, 6 shillings, and 8 pence were awarded to the administrator for his duties as administrator leaving 39 pounds, 16 shilling, and 3 pence to be divided between Abiah Godwin's 7 legatees…5 pounds, 13 shilling, 7 pence awarded per legatee.

Page 2 is a scan of what was on the back of the first page. It reads "A settlement of the estate Abiah Godwin, Deceased."

Page 3 is a receipt of monies owed to Samuel Godwin from the estate for his duties of administrator.

Pages 4 and 5 contain an inventory of the estate of Abiah Godwin taken on 4 Feb 1796, consisting of furniture, pots, farm stock, kitchen goods, etc.

The records contained in this series are "Loose Papers" which means they range from administration bonds to petitions for dowers, etc. Some items are frequently misfiled, so it is a good idea to look through all of the folders for the surname you are researching. For example, you might find a court suit about your ancestor in his Father's estate file, even though the two of them died 40 years apart. 

The value of this collection is that it is organized by county and then by surname whereas other bound volumes of estate records are organized by date.

You can read about how to find WILLS at the NC State Archives in my post "Looking for Wills at the NC State Archives - Updated."