WCV (Washington County, VA) WBs (Will Books) 21, 22 and 23 - Published!
Jack Hockett [Tlas101@aol.com] wrote, February 18, 2016 (Will Books) 21, 22 and 23— Published!
Dear Friends of WCV Research:
Mr. Donald Helton and I are pleased to announce the publication of two WCV Will Books (#21 and #22, covering principally the period 1879 through 1887), as below, by Iberian Publishing Company. These books each contain an every name index and rather full abstractions of the entries.(See end for intros for WB 21, WB 22, WB 23 for more info.) For those interested, ordering info is below.
WCV WBs 24, and 25 are ready for publication and WB 26 (through Feb 1901) was finished just today and sent for indexing with WB 27 (1901-1905) begun also today.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"311","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"28","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"40"}}]]22 -- CO. VIRGINIA CIRCUIT COURT WILL BOOK 22,
INTRODUCTION: This Will Book 22 (WB) begins with the inventory and appraisement of the estate of James L. Cole, dated 12 Feb 1884 and ends 349 pages later with the admission to record on 17 Jun 1887 of the Last Will and Testament of Benjamin Reid (Reed). As with earlier WBs of WCV, there are a number of earlier wills, and especially Executorial accounts, recorded in this WB. It might also be emphasized that considerable information on Sullivan Co TN families is contained in this WB.
The WB contains the following types of documents:
1. LWT: Last Will and Testament: Varying in size and details, these almost always provide the name of the testator, the date the will was written and date proved (enrolled; probated), to whom and what the testator has left his estate (sometimes sadly containing only wording such as “to all my children”… “to my dearly beloved wife”, etc.), and frequently the executor or executrix and witnesses, followed by the proving (enrolling) of the LWT in court by oaths of the witnesses, and the subsequent granting of the letters of administration by the court after (usually; unless otherwise requested in the LWT) the posting of bond; and, finally, the admission of the LWT to court record by the Court Clerk. Some of these wills were written before or during the Civil War and occasionally contain given names of slaves. As well, the LWTs and associated documents sometimes reveal the geographic region of those legatees who have left the commonwealth. Generally speaking, a good idea of the death period of the testator or others is usually provided by the date of probate of the LWT, usually within 1-3 months after the decease of the testator (interruptions during the Civil War sometimes cause an elongation of this period). Note: In this transcription, the LWTs & related attachments thereto have been transcribed almost fully.
2. Administration of Estate/Settlement of Estate/Executorial Accounts: An estate administrator appointed by the court (as per letters of administration in 1., above) who keeps track of the debits and credits (“rec’d. from/paid to”) of the estate; sometimes this occurs years after the death of the testator (and experiences delayed entry with vouchers stacking up in the court clerk’s office) and also can stretch out of a long period, requiring several court entries until the final Settlement of the Estate which is verified by the court, accepted and admitted to record.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"311","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"28","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"40"}}]]BOOK 21-- WASHINGTON CO. VIRGINIA CIRCUIT COURT WILL BOOK 21,
WB 21: INTRODUCTION
This Will Book (WB) begins with the recording of the Last Will and Testament (LWT) of Hardy Cuddy of Howard Co MO, formerly of Washington Co VA (WCV), written 23 Aug 1876 and with codicils, admitted to record in WCV Court, 23 Jan 1880, and roughly covers the period from mid-1878 until spring of 1884, but references to and actual transactions of an earlier period are sometimes contained in this WB as well (particularly in the case of Executorial Accounts). As with WB 17, 18, 19 & 20, it is especially important for WCV in the registering of details of some of the legal events in the county immediately before, during and after the Civil War. As a side, this WB contains a few Guardian Accounts (e.g., p. 163) which generally are recorded in what was referred to as the “Guardian Book” (but usually recorded in the appropriate. court minute (or order) book.)
The WB contains the following types of documents:
1. LWT: Last Will and Testament: Varying in size and details, these almost always provide the name of the testator, the date the will was written and date proved (enrolled; probated), to whom and what the testator has left his estate (sometimes sadly containing only wording such as “to all my children”… “to my dearly beloved wife”, etc.), and frequently the executor or executrix and witnesses, followed by the proving (enrolling) of the LWT in court by oaths of the witnesses, and the subsequent granting of the letters of administration by the court after (usually; unless otherwise requested in the LWT) the posting of bond; and, finally, the admission of the LWT to court record by the Court Clerk. Some of these wills were written before or during the Civil War and occasionally contain given names of slaves. As well, the LWTs and associated documents sometimes reveal the geographic region of those legatees who have left the commonwealth. Generally speaking, a good idea of the death period of the testator or others is usually provided by the date of probate of the LWT, usually within 1-3 months after the decease of the testator (interruptions during the Civil War sometimes cause an elongation of this period). Note: In this transcription, the LWTs & related attachments thereto have been transcribed almost fully.
2. Administration of Estate/Settlement of Estate/Executorial Accounts: An estate administrator appointed by the court (as per letters of administration in 1., above) who keeps track of the debits and credits (“rec’d. from/paid to”) of the estate; sometimes this occurs years after the death of the testator (and experiences delayed entry with vouchers stacking up in the court clerk’s office) and also can stretch out of a long period, requiring several court entries until the final Settlement of the Estate which is verified by the court, accepted and admitted to record. Fortunately, these sometimes contain the names of the legatees of the estate. Also, these entries are tedious to record but have been transcribed “as is” as they frequently contain many names of those from whom funds were received or paid out, etc. Naturally, the appraisal and sale prices sometimes fluctuate wildly especially after the beginning of the Civil War and immediately thereafter; not only the quality of the merchandise but also the ownership of the estate (the draw of purchasers) translates into cheaper or steeper prices. The widow usually took her third of merchandise. Excepting the few more affluent estates, where piano fortes, nice libraries and a plethora of fine furniture and farm animals were sometimes found, generally speaking, the most valuable items in a typical household were the horses and cattle (and somewhat, sheep and swine), the beds and bedsteads and sometimes a few other selective items such as threshing machines and other more valuable farm implements. Note: In this transcription, the administration and settlement of estates contain the essential details with proper names and occasional amounts (received and paid to/from the estate; occasionally fully transcribed for examples) where relevant, given. Some summations has been effected in this and below sections in lieu of abstraction.
3. Inventory and Appraisement of Estate (Real and Personal) of the Deceased: This contains an enumeration of articles belonging to the estate and the appraised value of each article, usually set by three appraisers who have taken an oath administered by the county court. These lists are sometimes exhaustive and have not usually been transcribed in toto, but only the name of the appraisers, the administrator, the general size of the estate (number of columns, lines with examples of inventory sometimes provided; sometimes examples of the more expensive items transcribed), etc. The appraisal amounts, and the info hitherto referred to have usually (except for example purposes) not been transcribed, as this would make this transcription prohibitive in terms of size of publication, and, this is a summary and abstract work. These are easily and readily accessible for anyone wanting to study the contents of a particular estate. Almost exclusively, the items consist of household items, farming utensils, farm animals and the like, or, in the case of store inventories, merchandise/stock for sale. Where they may occur, the inventory of the merchants’ estates are especially lengthy. Very frequently there is no grand total; however, this info can sometimes be found later in an entry in the Administration of Estate/Settlement of Estate/Executorial Account. Note: In this transcription, the Inventories and Appraisals of Estates contain the essential proper names, dates, etc, with only occasional enumeration of actual items; a few have been transcribed “as is” for example purposes.
4. Sale Bill of the Estate of the Deceased: This contains the list of the items which were sold at auction (generally repetitive of the inventory and appraisal of the estate, with some variations), the name of the purchaser, and the price they paid for the item. Only the names of the purchasers have usually been transcribed here; once again, this can be a very drawn out section for the estate and the info is readily available on film or the original. Some examples have been fully transcribed. Note: Generally, the essential dates, proper names of the estate owners/sellers, in question are given as well as the proper names of the purchasers; a few fuller examples have been transcribed.
This work has been annotated, primarily using information from our own publications (Hockett, Helton) as well as those of Mr. Tom Colley, from private contributors (see abbreviations list at beginning of the WB transcription), and other sources, as cited. We would like to additionally recommend for further and more extensive information on some of the annotations, to consult the excellent work: 1850 CENSUS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY VIRGINIA ANNOTATED. By Waverly W. Barbe and edited by Ms. Shelby Ireson Edwards. 2000. This publication is available from the Historical Society of Washington Country Virginia, Abingdon, VA. Other contributors such as Ms. M. Eppsand Mr. Robert Ford, Ms. Donna Jean Ford, Ms. Mary Marble, et al. have been identified as needed (please refer to the abbreviations section).
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"311","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"28","style":"line-height: 20.8px;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"40"}}]]BOOK 23- WASHINGTON CO. VIRGINIA WILL BOOK 23,
INTRODUCTION: This Will Book 23 (WB) begins with the LWT (Last Will and Testament) of Edward Leonard,written 25 Mar 1887 and proved in Washington County Virginia (WCV) court on 25 Apr 1887; WB 23 ends 399 pages later with the admission to record of the LWT of B. W. Curtis on 24 Mar 1890. Differing from many other WCV WBs (will books) of the period
The WB contains the following types of documents:
1. LWT: Last Will and Testament: Varying in size and details (from a few lines to the extensive Lancaster LWT contained herein), these almost always provide the name of the testator, the date the will was written and date proved (enrolled; probated), to whom and what the testator has left his estate (sometimes sadly containing only wording such as “to all my children”… “to my dearly beloved wife”, etc.), and frequently the executor or executrix and witnesses, followed by the proving (enrolling) of the LWT in court by oaths of the witnesses, and the subsequent granting of the letters of administration by the court after (usually; unless otherwise requested in the LWT) the posting of bond; and, finally, the admission of the LWT to court record by the Court Clerk. Some of these wills were written before or during the Civil War and occasionally contain given names of slaves. As well, the LWTs and associated documents sometimes reveal the geographic region of those legatees who have left the commonwealth. Generally speaking, a good idea of the death period of the testator or others is usually provided by the date of probate of the LWT, usually within 1-3 months after the decease of the testator (interruptions during the Civil War sometimes cause an elongation of this period). Note: In this transcription, the LWTs & related attachments thereto have been transcribed almost fully.
2. Administration of Estate/Settlement of Estate/Executorial Accounts: An estate administrator appointed by the court (as per letters of administration in 1., above) who keeps track of the debits and credits (“rec’d. from/paid to”) of the estate; sometimes this occurs years after the death of the testator (and experiences delayed entry with vouchers stacking up in the court clerk’s office) and also can stretch out of a long period, requiring several court entries until the final Settlement of the Estate which is verified by the court, accepted and admitted to record. Fortunately, these sometimes contain the names of the legatees of the estate. Also, these entries are tedious to record but have been transcribed “as is” as they frequently contain many names of those from whom funds were received or paid out, etc. Naturally, the appraisal and sale prices sometimes fluctuate wildly especially after the beginning of the Civil War and immediately thereafter; not only the quality of the merchandise but also the ownership of the estate (the draw of purchasers) translates into cheaper or steeper prices. The widow usually took her third of merchandise. Excepting the few more affluent estates, where piano fortes, nice libraries and a plethora of fine furniture and farm animals were sometimes found, generally speaking, the most valuable items in a typical household were the horses and cattle (and somewhat, sheep and swine), the beds and bedsteads and sometimes a few other selective items such as threshing machines and other more valuable farm implements, the latter becoming increasingly prevalent as the 1880s progress. Note: In this transcription, the administration and settlement of estates contain the essential details with proper names and occasional amounts (received and paid to/from the estate; occasionally fully transcribed for examples) where relevant, given. Some summations has been effected in this and below sections in lieu of abstraction.
3. Inventory and Appraisement of Estate (Real and Personal) of the Deceased: This contains an enumeration of articles belonging to the estate and the appraised value of each article, usually set by three appraisers who have taken an oath administered by the county court. These lists are sometimes exhaustive and have not usually been transcribed in toto, but only the name of the appraisers, the administrator, the general size of the estate (number of columns, lines with examples of inventory sometimes provided; sometimes examples of the more expensive items have been transcribed), etc. Although the estate inventories very greatly in size, the contents of each are usually comprised of household and kitchen items, farm animals and farm implements, the grander exceptions being the store/business inventories which detail principally merchandise, furnishings, etc. The appraisal amounts, and the info hitherto referred to have usually (except for example purposes) not been transcribed, as this would make this transcription prohibitive in terms of size of publication, and, this is a summary and abstract work. These are easily and readily accessible for anyone wanting to study the contents of a particular estate. Almost exclusively, the items consist of household items, farming utensils, farm animals and the like, or, in the case of store inventories, merchandise/stock for sale. Where they may occur, the inventory of the merchants’ estates are especially lengthy. Very frequently there is no grand total; however, this info can sometimes be found later in an entry in the Administration of Estate/Settlement of Estate/Executorial Account. Note: In this transcription, the Inventories and Appraisals of Estates contain the essential proper names, dates, etc, with only occasional enumeration of actual items; a few have been transcribed “as is” for example purposes.
4. Sale Bill of the Estate of the Deceased: This contains the list of the items which were sold at auction (generally repetitive of the inventory and appraisal of the estate, with some variations), the name of the purchaser (in several unusual instances, the names of the purchasers are curiously missing), and the price they paid for the item [s] with number of items or line listings written after each purchaser’s name, if multiple purchases were made in sequence. Only the names of the purchasers have usually been transcribed here; once again, this can be a very drawn out section for the estate and the info is readily available on film or the original. Some examples have been fully transcribed. Note: Generally, the essential dates, proper names of the estate owners/sellers, in question are given as well as the proper names of the purchasers; a few fuller examples have been transcribed.
This work has been annotated, primarily using information from our own publications (Hockett, Helton) as well as those of Mr. Tom Colley, from private contributors (see abbreviations list at beginning of the WB transcription), and other sources, as cited. We would like to additionally recommend for further and more extensive information on some of the annotations, to consult the excellent work: 1850 CENSUS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY VIRGINIA ANNOTATED. By Waverly W. Barbe and edited by Ms. Shelby Ireson Edwards. 2000. This publication is available from the Historical Society of Washington Country Virginia, Abingdon, VA. Other contributors such as Ms. M. Epps and Mr. Robert Ford, Ms. Donna Jean Ford, Ms. Mary Marble, et al. have been identified as needed (please refer to the abbreviations section).