"In
the name of God Amen I Elizabeth Cook of the County of Surry and State of North
Carolina being weak in Body but of sound mind and memory Blessed be God for the
Same_ and calling to mind my approaching mortality do this fourth day of april
AD 1817 make and publish this my Last will and Testament in manner following:
(viz) I give and bequeath until my Son Wilds [Miles?] Cook my molatto Boy lewis
untill he shall arrive to the age of thirty five years old after that period my
will and Desire is that the aforesaid Boy Lewis shall obtain his freedom and
continue no longe[r] [?] and it is my will and Desire that my Said Son Wild
[Miles?] Cook or Some other of my Children or some friend Should make
application to the legislature for the purpose of haveing a law passed to Carry
into effect this my will so far as Respects the freedom of said Boy. Witness my
hand and Seal the Day and date above written. Signed and acknowledxged in the
presance of ___
J
Wright her
Henry
Hampton Senr Elizabeth X Cook
{seal}
mark
State
of North Carolina Surry County February term 1824. Thomas Wright one of the
subscribing witness to the foregoing last Will & testament of Elizabeth
Cook decd made oath that he saw the said Elizabeth Cook, sign publish &
declare the same to be her last Will & testament, that she was of sound,
disposing mind & memory, and at the same time he saw Henry Hampton Senr
sign the same as a witness, and therupon it was ordered to be recorded.
Recorded
accordingly R J Williams C C"
.jpg)
Source: North Carolina, will,
Elizabeth Cook, Surry County Wills, 1792-1827, Vol. 03, pg. 159, image 185;
digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 24
Jan 2013).
© 2013 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research
This is a great find. Words used in the Wills and Testimony, during the 1800 have flowed like a song that moved your emotions with enormous respect. “In the name of God” Today, those same words would be considered offensive to some.
ReplyDeleteOf particular interest to me are the words “my mulatto boy” I question whether this mulatto boy was his son, or only his property. Of course one would have to examine the records and etc. to make the distinction. However, I suspect that Lewis was his son, both because of his description and because he wanted “my mulatto boy” to remain with this family into adulthood. Thank you for sharing this document.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I found it interesting that it was not until Lewis had reached the age of 35 that he was to be granted his freedom. The last part about making application to the legislature was interesting as well, and it is something to follow up.
Delete~Denise