Friday, January 25, 2013

Friend of Friends Friday - 1817 Will of Elizabeth Cook, Surry County, North Carolina

When William Cook of Surry County, North Carolina, died in 1812, he bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth "his Molatto boy Lewis to be her own property forever." In her will, Elizabeth bequeathed Lewis to one of her sons with a provision for Lewis to be freed when he reached age 35. Following is a transcription and images of Elizabeth's will.


"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"



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

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Capturing Memories


I've tried to get family members to write about their memories without much success. However, I have noticed over the last few months, several relatives have written in emails, Facebook posts or blog comments about their memories of another family member or an occasion. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to capture those fleeting tidbits so I can easily access  them when writing about family history.

I’ve decided to use a word processing document in which I can record the following information:

  1. Family member or event remembered
  2. Name of individual who made the comment
  3. Date
  4. Actual text of comment (copy and paste)
  5. Copy of photograph or other related documentation

Each time I come across a memory I can easily add it to the document. This should make it much easier to find those comments than trying to search through Facebook posts or email accounts.

If you have any suggestions about how to capture these kinds of memories, I invite you to share them in the comments section below.



Public domain image, via Wikimedia Commons.


© 2013 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Wishing You a Glad New Year!

Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy.


© 2013 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research