Will of Christopher Harris

Christopher Harris of Madison County, KY

 Will Book A-page 54, 55.

 It was transcribed by Eileen Niederkorn; I have added some paragraph breaks for easier reading.

            In the name of God Amen. I Christopher Harris being through the abundant mercy and goodness of God tho weak in body yet of perfect understanding and memory do constitute this my last will & Testament and desire it should be reviewed by all as such. Imprimis that I will & Desire that my first Children (Viz) Dabney Harris, Sarah Martin, Robert Harriss, Mourning Jones, Christopher Harrifs, & Mary Jones should have the following negroes (excepting thirty pounds out of my son Dabneys Legacy which is to be paid by the Executors of this Part of my Will for the use & Benefit of my wife and Other Children) (Viz) Ritter and her Children, Pomp, Moses, Allice, George, Betty, Lucy and Delphy the above Negores to be Divided Agreeable to Cornelias Dabneys Seniors

 Will and I do appoint Foster Jones, and Christoph Harrifs as Executors of the above part of this will and as to the Ballance of my Estate I Direct that first my Debts shall be paid out of what money I have by or is owing to me the house where I live I Direct should be finished which together with the tract of land whereon I live, I leave to my Dear & loving wife during her life and at ther death to son Overton Harrifs as to the Ballance of my Negroes (David, Cate, Fanny, Stephen, and Eddy together with my House hold furniture Stock of every kind and Plantation utensels I desire that my wife may have the whole Benefit of them during her life or widowhood and if she should Marry the whole to be sold and Equally Divided amongst her & her children as to my Lands on Muddy Creek I will and Bequeath them as follows, the Drowning Creek Tract of land

 I will and Bequeath to my son John Harrifs the Sycamore Spring Tract to my son Benjamin Harris the tract on which my son Wm. has Built to my son Harris and the Tract Clalled the Holly Tract to my son Barnabas Harrifs and my land in Albemarle County together with the Stock that is thereon I direct shall be sold and that my sons James and Samuel Harris shall Receive of the money as much as Col John Miller & Robert Rodes shall Judge the land to be worth that I will’d to my Other sons Viz to be made Equal to them, as to my three Daughters Viz Jane Gentry-Margret Harris, and Isabel Harris my will and Desire is that Jean Gentry should Receive ten pounds and Margret and Isbel Harris to have fifty pounds apeice out of the Ballance of what my Albermarld land and the Proffits arising from that place and if that should not be Sufficient that It shall be made up to htem out of any of Personal Estate that my wife and Executors after nemtioned shall think best as to my lands on Sinking Waters my will is that if they are obtained it should be sold and Wqually divided amongst my last Set of Children and I do appoint my dear & loveing wife with John Sappington and John Harris to execute that part of my will that respects my wife and her Children as witnefs my hand & seal this twentyeth day of February one thousand seven hundred and ninety four.

 Witnefs

Hartly Sappington

Christopher Harrifs

 Rich’d Sappington

 Joseph Wells At a Court held for Madison County on Tuesday the 15th day of March 1794 This Will was proved to be the last will & testament of Christopher Harris by the oath of Joseph Wells, Hartly & Richard Sappington witnefses thereto and ordered to be recorded. Teste Will Irvine

 CMC Typed as spelled in will.


 Transcription found on this site.


My thoughts:

The will of Christopher Harris is important in the documentation of Mourning Harris-Jones parentage.  Morning Harris and Foster Jones were the parents of Nancy Jones wife of Richard Sappington.  Richard Sappington was witness to the will and John Sappington was made co-executor of Christopher Harris’s estate.  However, it is impossible to tell from the will if the Richard Sappington witness is the husband of Nancy Jones and John Sappington the co-executor was the father of Richard.  Given the connection of the Harris, Jones and Sappington families this is most likely the case.

Benjamin Brown 

Benjamin Brown b. 16 Sep 1786. d. 18 Aug 1863, m. Eliz. Brown b. 12 Nov 1790. (questionable phrase may say “first wife”) 

Children

Wm b. 25 Aug 1809

Joseph b. Sep 19 1811

John b. Dec 1813

Mary Ann b. 19 Dec 1813, twin of John above

Jesse b. 14 … 1816

Levney b. 11 Mar 1819

Davis b. 9 April 1821

Daniel C. b 5 April 1824

Benj R. b 11 May 1826

Jas. Swift b. 10 Aug 1828

(Benj. Brown was a resident of Guilford Co., N.C. Eliz., wife of Benj brown was the dau. Of Josiah & Eliz. Loftin Lambeth.  This data given by owner of Bible, Wisdom Brown Aydelette, 1202 Spring Garden St. , Greensboro, N.C.)

The above transcription was taken from the book:  Old Southern Bible Records, compiled by Memory Aldridge Lester, published 1974.

Other family bible transcriptions from the “Old Southern Bible Records” I have are:

Zachariah Smith Brooks

Absalom Rhodes Brown

Jethro Brown

William Dinkins

*James William Doggett

George D. Holcomb

*George Thompson Holman

*John Kernodle

John Kincaid, Sr.

*has Lambeth connections

Feel free to contact me for further information on these transcriptions.

Herbert E. Fitzjerrell, son of Meredith Fitzjerrell and Cora.

Thanks to Melissa for the photo!

Behan-Walsh Tombstones

A great big thank-you to Nancy Mattox, Find-A-Grave volunteer who photographed the tombstones of Catherine Behan-Walsh and her husband James Walsh; Catherine was the daughter of Andrew and Mary Behan and sister to Michael Behan.  Catherine and her husband are buried at Calvary Cemetery in Toledo, Ohio.  All research has indicated that Catherine and James were childless, again thanks to Nancy for taking the time out of her day to photograph these stones.

If you are interested in helping other genealogist around the country and world you can become a Find-A-Grave photo volunteer. 

From the Find-A-Grave FAQ’s

           
“A photo volunteer is someone who is willing to take photos of headstones within a given zip code.   The photo volunteer program is currently only available in the United States. Find A Grave does not allow photo volunteers to charge money for their services.”

Dillon  Cemetery

#2

Transcribed from: Another Job Done by Dianne Peck, page 15.

            Sterling Swearingin has headed up an energetic undertaking of cleaning up this old family burial plot.  The brush had completely overtaken the spot and it had become a hiding place for baby claves as it was in the center of a large cow pasture.  Plans are underway for stump removal, erection of overturned stones and a new fence.

            At some time a loved one spent time to pour a concrete cover over a burial spot in the Dillon Cemetery and erect large rocks for the head and foot stones.  They neglected to scratch any information on the concrete before it dried. (Picture on pg. 13)

            “We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone.  But we left him anyone with his glory.”

            An old newspaper article:

            Died-at Edmonson, January 19, 1900, George, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Peak, age 7, of pneumonia.  Burial at the Black Oak Cemetery in the presence of a large number of friends.

            Evidently no marker was ever place for this little one and because of there being tow Black oak Cemeteries, his final resting place is unknown.

            During the final cleanups the stone of D.C. Trump was uncovered.  He died September 8, 1900 at the age of 58.  Could this possibly be the grandfather of Donald?

 The map below shows the location of the Dillon Cemetery.  The Dillon Cemetery is marked as #2 on the map, the Black Oak Cemetery is marked as #1 and the final resting place for John Tyree is marked on the map as #21. 


If the weather cooperates my intention is to visit these three cemeteries this week.

It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.
Norman Schwarzkopf

Wesley Lambeth:  Osage County Home Guard, Civil War

Michael Behen:  47th Indiana Infantry Company B, Civil War

Wyatt Lambeth:  WWII

   George Meyers, Bob Behen, Jack Reuter:  WWII

Robert Anders, WWII

Jack Dillon:  France-Cold War Era

William Ross Fitzjerrell was born November 20, 1878.  He was the son of Cyrus Fitzjerrell and Eliza Greenwood. I received his death certificate this week and in addition to the name of his parents, his birth and death information; his death certificated listed wife as Bessie Beatty, divorced.  Bessie was living with her parents William and Sarah Beatty during the 1900 census; the Beatty family lived next to William Ross Fitzjerrell and his parents Cyrus and Eliza.  I did a quick search of the 1910, 1920, 1930 census and the Illinois marriages for a record of this couples marriage or living together during a census year and have not had any success.  I presume they married after 1900 and were divorced by 1930.  William reports being divorced on the 1930 Raymond, Illinois census record.  William’s death certificate lists place of burial as Asbury cemetery in Raymond, Illinois.  William is buried in the same lot as his parents; however a Bessie Fitzjerrell is buried in the same lot in Asbury as William and Sarah Beatty.  I am going to make the assumption this is William’s divorced wife Bessie Beatty. 

If anyone from the Fitzjerrell or Beatty family can add to or correct this information please contact me .

I have had a pretty busy month and have not had anytime to devote to genealogy.  I sincerely apologize for my slow responses to anyone who has sent me e-mails last month.  I am diligently trying to play catch up today. If you don’t hear back from me this week you might want to send me a reminder. If you e-mail me in the next three weeks I will try to get back to you in a timely fashion!

 I am in the midst of putting in the vegetable garden, cleaning up the flower beds, remolding all the bathrooms in the house and trying to close out the school year.  By the end of the month the gardens should planted, the bathrooms could drag on summer, but school will be out!  Many of my planed genealogy trips did not happen last summer; I am determined to make it out to Ohio and Illinois this summer!  I have some new information on William Ross FitzJerrell, son of Cyrus and some information on the Lambeth’s I acquired in Mississippi last month.  I look forward to sharing with you in the next couple of weeks.