The Will of William Williams, Granville Co., NC (1763)

I do not know how this William Williams of Granville Co., NC connects into my Williams family line. It is always my way to publish everything I find. I hope someday down the line I can connect them all.

Williams, William–wills to son Charles Williams 250 acres of land on south side of Tarr river, also my part of the wagon and the two horses belonging to the wagon, a feather bed and furniture; to son Stephen Williams, plantation whereon I now live containing the 143 acres on north side of Tarr river and a feather bed and furniture, a horse and my saddle; to daughter Lucy Pitman, wife of Samuel Pitman, 5 shillings; my wife Elizabeth to have use of plantation and dwelling house whereon I now live for as long as she is my widow or for life and at her death, the land to go to the aforesaid Stephen Williams; the movable property divided between Charles and Stephen Williams.
Exrs: my son Charles Williams and friend Francis Fowler
Wts: John Williams, John Morris

Source: Abstracts Of Granville County, NC, Unrecorded wills, 1746-1771, by Zae Gwynn
Page 66-April 3, 1763–proved Feb. 1765

The Will of Daniel Williams, Granville Co., NC (1759)

Here is the will of Daniel Williams of Granville Co., NC. Daniel Williams was married to Ursula Henderson. They were the parents of my Henry Williams of Caswell Co., NC. I found two other Williams wills in Granville Co but I am not sure how they connect if at all to my Daniel Williams family. They are William Williams and Thomas Williams.
Williams, Daniel–wills to wife 3 negroes loaned to her for her lifetime, 12 cattle, one horse, feather bed and furniture, household goods, which I do not give away herafter, and at her death to be equally divided between my seven children: Merya Goodman, Henry Williams, John Williams, James Williams, Joseph Williams, Mary Mitchell, Daniel Williams; to my son-in-law Benjamin Goodman, 200 acres of landing being the land whereon he now lives at Capt. Mitchells line; to son John Williams, 350 acres which I purchased of Richard Bullock; to sons James and Joseph Williams, 800 acres of land in Halifax county, Virginia to be equally divided between them; to son Daniel Williams, 400 acres being land and plantation whereon I now live; to daughter Marya Goodman, for her lfietime, 3 negroes and, at her death, to go to her children; to son Henry Williams, 2 negroes and the use of a mullatto fellow to serve to age 21 years; to son John, 3 n3groes; to son James, 3 negroes; to daughter Mary Mitchell, 4 negroes; to son Daniel, 4 negroes; to my wife Ursula Williams, I lend for her lifetime 6 sheep, 12 hogs and, at her death, to be divided to my seven children; to my youngest children, James, Joseph, Mary Mitchell, and Daniel Williams, all rest of cattle, sheep, and hogs to divide between them; to son James, a horse and a feather bed and furniture; to son Joseph, a stallion, a feather bed and furniture; to daughter Mary Mitchell, a horse; to son Daniel Williams a horse and a mare, a feather bed and furniture; to son James Williams, land on Anderson swamp containing 400 acres; to son Joseph, land on Hico road and branches of Island creek—400 acres; my executors are to sell my crop of tobacco and pay my debts and to get 8000 ten penny nails and 8000 eight penny nails and give them to James and Joseph Williams and whereas Henry Williams and Marya Goodman have had pewter bought for them, it is my desire that John, James, Joseph, Mary Mitchell, and Daniel are to have pewter bought for them in equal amount by my executors and if any surplus from these sale, to be divided in eight parts for my wife and children; after wife’s death, all that is left to be divided to them.Exrs: my wife, Ursula Williams, John and James Williams
Wts: Luke Waldrup, William Sims

Source: Abstracts Of Granville County, NC, Unrecorded wills, 1746-1771, by Zae Gwynn
Page 64–Nov. 15, 1759–proved Dec. court 1759

Lark Family Revealed

My great grandmother, Nova Lee Peters, had a sister, Mary Peters who married a guy named Carlyle Fleming Lark in 1929. Mary Peters Lark died young in 1949, but not before witnessing the marriage of their son, Stanley Lark, to his wife, June Lawrene Wyatt. The existence of the Lark family was new to us when we started our research in 2005. Since then, my grandfather has been trying to make contact with his Lark cousins. He obtained mailing addresses and phone numbers of Stanley, Russell and Nancy, children of Mary Peters Lark and wrote to each of them. I believe he briefly talked on the phone with his cousin Stanley but wasn’t able to get much information from him. He did receive a Christmas card from Nancy this past year (2007) and got her address from that.

I received most of my information on the Lark family from Stanley’s wife’s side of the family. Stanley’s wife, June, had started the family history but had to cut it short when she passed of cancer in 2003. Her brother Larry Wyatt, has been dilligently trying to pick up where she left off. He has been a great help to me. We started corresponding again this month. I asked him for pictures and history of June and Stanley’s family. He sent me two collages that were made by Michael Lark, only son of Stanley and June; they collages had multiple pictures outlining the lives of Stanley and June. I was sad to learn that Stanley passed away in 2006. This is why my grandfather’s letters and cards were unanswered.

Today on a whim I typed in “Michael Lark” into my Myspace friend finder and low and behold the profile of my second cousin once removed, Michael Lark, son of Stanley and June, appeared. I sent him a message telling him who I was and what I was looking for. I’m not sure if he will respond or not, but it’s still exciting to know that I was able to find and locate some distant family members. I also found a couple of his son’s pages. I browsed through their pictures to try to learn a little about them.

Hill Family Photos - Arkansas

I found these photos among my great grandmother's photos. My great grandmother was Blanche Kathryne Hill Binns. She was the daughter of Nathaniel "Gus" Gustaves Hill and Jessie Barton. Blanche had 4 other sisters, Jo Hill, Nora Lee Hill, Doris Hill, and Inez Hill. They were from Dierks, Arkansas.

Civil War pension applications of Richard Smith

I received copies of Richard Smith's pension application from my grandfather, Darrel Smith June 2007. My goal is to transcribe them in their entirety.

Update 1/14/09: All 60 pages of the pension packet have been scanned and saved to my hardrive. I made two digital copies of each page, 1 .tif format and 1 .jpg format. The .tif files were moved to my external harddrive in the XL Files / Smith / Richard Smith Pension Application Files folder. The .jpg files were saved in genealogy/Smith/Richard Smith (1838-1913)/ Pension Application Files folder.

I started a word document - "index.doc" with a table that includes page no., date, and notes. I'm keeping the pages in their originally numbered order (by Darrel Smith).

Here is a copy of a survey Richard Smith submitted to the Pension Board. It is important because it lists Richard Smith's two wives' names and the names of his living children. Survey was submitted Aug 4, 1898:


Another thing to note about this survey is that Richard Smith listed his son Preston's date of birth as Aug 24, 1868. Preston Smith's obituaries, death certificate, and headstone list his date of birth as Aug 15, 1866. This contradicts with the information Richard provided about his oldest living son, Ray Smith whom he listed as being born Oct 9, 1866.

Two George Brooks Men of Caswell County

Tonight I consolidated 3 separate documents I have relating the story of two young George Brooks men - the individual family tree maker database files for both men; the Brooks Family Will Books.doc, and the George Brooks.doc files.

Information on the older George Brooks who was possibly the man who willed his Revolutionary War land in TN to my Christopher Williams Brooks was also consolidated in the two word files.

I have information stored in multiple locations for two reasons: 1. if I lose one file, that information is stored in a second location; 2. One of the files is simply all about any men named George, with some explanation of the different men. The other file is all about ALL men named Brooks. I use this one so I can see relationships between the individuals and their family members.

I have included an introduction below to the two different George Brooks men of Caswell County. I hope to post my completed files to this blog some day. However, most of my preliminary information was taken from Will and Deed book abstracts by Katherine Kerr Kendall and need to be verified with original documents obtained at the State Archives.
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There were two George Brooks men living in Caswell co., NC in the early 1800s. They were first cousins: George son of Jonathan, born abt 1790 (according to the 1830 Caswell Co census report), and George son of Charles, born 1787. The older George moved to Stokes Co., NC in 1820 after marrying Elizabeth Courts, also from Caswell Co., NC (1820 Stokes Co census report). George and his wife Elizabeth Brooks of Stokes Co. sold 206 acres of land on waters of Hogan’s creek in Caswell Co., NC to Obadiah Nunally on 25 June 1820. This George administered his father's estate in Caswell Co., NC in 1816 before removing to Stokes Co., NC. I believe his mother Sarah remained in Caswell Co., NC. There was an estate record for a Sarah Brooks in Jan 1841, Caswell Co., NC. I believe this to be the widow of Charles and mother of George who removed to Stokes County. George administered her account in 1841-1843. It was a significant account, therefore I believe Sarah to have been a widow. It is possible this Sarah was the wife of George, son of Jonathan; but I don't believe it plausible because this deceased had such a considerable estate. Additionally, there was an elder Sarah Brooks who was tracked on the Caswell County census reports prior to this estate record who fit in as the deceased in these estate records. I have included below all deed and will book entries for both George Brooks and have noted to which George they refer if known. All entries have been included in both George Brooks' family tree files.

An Elder George Brooks - Caswell Co., NC

An Account of an original Caswell County, NC settler, George Brooks and his possible relation to my ancestor, Christopher Williams Brooks:

1777Caswell County, NC Tax Records, 1777:
Glouster District, George Brooks, 650 Acres, 7 wp, 0 bp
- Where did this 650 acres come from? I did not see a land grant in Caswell, Orange, or Granville County, NC Land Grants. Maybe he bought it from someone in Orange County? Or it came from Lord or Earl Granville? (Caswell Co was formed from Orange Co in 1777)
1779

North Carolina Land Grant, 1779, File no. 444: 300 acres, Entry no. 622 entered 11 Jan 1779; Grant no. 605, issued 13 Oct 1783; Book 53, p. 25; Located on the Middle fork of the South Fork of Country Line Creek

Deed book A, page 144, 1779: State of NC – No. 57, to Elisha Parks, 300 acres on both sides of middle fork of south fork of Country Line Cr adjacent claims of Samuel Kelly, William Gooch, George Brooks, John Anthony, Elijah Mason. 3 May 1779. chain carriers John Anthony, Ransom Atkinson. (Abstracts, p. 9) This 300 acres of land was then sold by Elisha Parks to Thomas Johnston of Culpepper Co (see below). [Note: this was probably taken in March; The date of May was probably a mistake by the abstractor. Subsequent deed information continues to be dated in March.] Source: Caswell Co., NC Deed Books, 1777-1817, Abstracts, Katherine Kerr Kendall, p.9

Deed book A, page 175, 1779: State of NC No. 66 to Henry Williams, 216 acres on branches Shaws, Toms and Stoney Creeks adj William Brown, claims of Arthur Lovings, John Brothers. 3 Mar 1779. chain carriers Wm. Brown and Geo Brooks Jun. (Abstracts, p. 11)

Deed book A, page 296, 1779: Elisha Parks of Caswell Co., NC to Thomas Johnston of Culpepper Co., VA for 1000 lbs, 300 acres on middle fork of Country line Creek adj claims of Samuel Kelly and William Gooch, John Anthony, George Brooks, claim of Elijah Mason, said land granted by NC to Parks 3 Mar 1779 adknowledged. (Abstracts, p. 18)

These deeds provide evidence that there was another older George Brooks who lived in Caswell Co in 1779; since he owned land, he was born at least before 1758 (had to be 21 to own land). Could this be the George Brooks who heired land that he received as a Revolutionary soldier in TN to Christopher Williams Brooks? There was no George Brooks on the 1790 or 1800 Caswell Co., NC census report, so either he died or he moved. (Probably he died because he heired the land to Christopher). The next George is not enumerated until 1830 in Caswell co., NC. He was the son of Jonathan and Ann Lewis Brooks (According to Kay Haden...Charles and Sally Brooks' son George moved to Stokes/Forsynth Co., NC). There are no George Brooks men in the Person Co deed book (1792-1825) or census reports.

TO DO:
Look for references to this George Brooks as a soldier in the American Revolution. Did not have a pension because he probably died prior to the law passed by Congress.