Daniel Ward's will - VA - 1826 Daniel Ward was the 1/2 brother of Benjamin of Ashe Co, NC. Daniel lived in Franklin County, VA It mentions two young men Willis and Reuben THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF DANIEL WARD In the name of God, Amen, I, Daniel WARD of Franklin Co. and State of Virginia, being low in body, but of sound mind and perfect memory, thought proper to make this, my last will and testament, in the manner and form following; that is; First of all, I recommend my Soul to God who gave it; my Body to the Earth from whence it was taken, to be buried at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter named; and as to touching my worldly estate, first, I desire that all my just debts be paid out of my personal estate. Secondly, my will and desire is that ll my lands shall be laid off in twelve equal parts or lots, agreeable to quantity and quality by my Executors hereinafter named. And at my death, or as soon after as it is expedient, it is my will and desire that all my personal estate shall be set up an sold to the highest bidder by my Executors, on such credit as they may think proper, and the money arising therefrom to be equally divided unto twelve parts after all expenses shall be taken out. First, my will is that my daughter Elizabeth MARCUM shall receive one-twelfth part, ... also my desire is that my daughter Happy shall receive one-twelfth part, ... and it is my desire that my son Jesse WARD shall receive one-twelfth part to go to the benefit and maintenance of his wife and children, ... and it is also my desire that my son Benjamin shall receive one-twelfth part. ... It is my will and desire that my son Asa WARD shall receive two hundred dollars that is to come out of my son Daniel's part for causes and reasons best known to myself and if any surplus should be left of one-twelfth, my will and desire is that my son Daniel shall receive that surplus and if he should be dead when the division should take place, my will and desire is the four children of Daniel WARD begotten by his wife Ally, to be equally divided amongst them. ... It is also my desire that my daughter Prudence PERDUE shall receive one-twelfth part. ... It is also my will and desire whereas I have loaned unto my son Jonathan one slave boy *Willis* for his, the said Jonathan, to deliver up to my Executors at my death or as soon after as they shall demand him. If he should not give him up when called for and have him sold with the rest of the property, h, the said Jonathan shall receive him as one-twelfth part to go to the support of his wife and children, and at his death, if he should see cause to keep the above named boy Willis, he shall be set up and sold to the highest bidder and the money arising therefrom to be equally divided amongst his lawful begotten children as they shall come to lawful age. ... It is also my desire, whereas I have loaned unto my son Asa WARD one slave boy *Rueben*, that he, the said Asa, shall bring him in and sell with the rest of my property, and if he should refuse to bring him in, he shall receive him as one-twelfth part and no more, but if he should cause to give him up and have him sold with the rest of my estate, in that case he shall receive one-twelfth part. ... It is also my desire and will that my son Asa shall receive one-twelfth part for my son Samuel WARD and put it out on interest at six percent and pay the interest to said Samuel at the end of every year and if the said Samuel shoud be in such indigent circumstances that he is upon sufferance, he, the said Asa WARD, shall let the said Samuel have such sums of the principal as will promote his best interest and, at the death of said Samuel WARD, if there should be a surpllus in the hands of said Asa, it shall be equally divided amongst the lawful heirs of said Samuel as they come of lawful age. ... It is also my desire that my daughter Martha LYON shall receive one-twelfth part. I do constitute and appoint my son, Asa WARD, and my friend, John M. HOLLAND, my Executors of this, my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and testaments made by me. To this I set my hand and seal this January 12, 1826 His Daniel X WARD Mark Signed in the presence of us: Peter M. HOLLAND Thomas DUDLEY his Mark X PERDUE mark At a court held for Franklin County at the Court House the 6 February 1826, this last will and testament of Daniel WARD, deceased, was exhibited into court and proved by the oath of Thomas DUDLEY and Mark PERDUE, two of the subscribing witnesses, and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of Asa WARD, one of the executors therein named, who took the oath directed by law, and together with Sparrel HALE, Wm. PASLELY, Thomas DUDLEY, Jessee DILLON, Jr. and Stephen FERGUSON, his securities executed bond in the sum of six thousand dollars conditioned according to law. Certificate is granted him for obtaining a probate thereof in due form. Liberty being reserved to the other executors in the said will, named to join in the probate when he shall think fit. Testate: Caleb TATE C F C T.W. CARPER, Clerk =================================================================== The source of this will is a privately printed booklet entitled "Ward Family History of Virginia" by Lucy Kate McGHEE, date unknown. Punctuation and paragraphs have been added for the sake of readability. It should be stressed that this is a secondary source, and may not exactly compare with the original Will. This is an excellent example of the type of document that is so very valuable to any researcher. First, it reveals the names of all of his living children, and at least most of the spouses names. It shows that Daniel was an intelligent, although illiterate, man. It exhibits a strong desire to be fair, yet leaves some mystery about some of his children. It tells us that Daniel Jr. is seriously ill; that Samuel was, for some reason, unable to manage his own affairs; that Daniel, Sr. was more concerned for the welfare of Jonathan's wife and children than for his son Jonathan. {This was typed at the bottom of the copy of page 1 received from Charles McKNIGHT 6/1996} =================================================================== From the will of Daniel WARD and other sources* we can construct his family as follows: Daniel WARD m Betsey/ Elizabeth _______________ d Jan 1826 Franklin Co VA Their children: Elizabeth b 1765 or 1775 Virginia (1830 Census shows her 50-60, 1850 shows age 85) m 8 Oct 1792 Franklin Co VA to Beverly MARCUM d after 1850 (Possibly Darke Co OH) Happy m 24 Sep 1792 Franklin Co VA to Daniel PERDUE Jr. Jesse m 30 Sep 1799 Franklin Co VA to Anna GREER Benjamin m 15 Sep 1804 Franklin Co VA to Elizabeth PERDUE Daniel m 20 May 1809 Franklin Co VA to Fanny BLANKENSHIP (Referred to as Ally in Daniel WARDs will.) Prudence m 27 Feb 1804 Franklin Co VA to Daniel PERDUE Jr. Celia m 1 Sep 1806 Franklin Co VA to Squire DILLON Jonathan m 10 Aug 1815 Franklin Co VA to Annie PLYBORNE William m 9 Sep 1811 Franklin Co VA to Mary Ann JONES d ca 1839 Rutherford Co TN Asa m 2 May 1814 Franklin Co VA to Susanna SINK Samuel m 2 Dec 1816 Franklin Co VA to Mary ALTICK Martha m to _____________LYON BIBLIOGRAPHY* Worrell, Anne Lowry, "Over the Mountain Men", their Early Court Records in Southwest VA. Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1979 Wingfield, Marshall "Marriage Bonds of Franklin Co VA, 1786-1858" McGhee, Lucy Kate, "Ward Family History of Virginia" showing their links with the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Branches of Wards, Privately printed, Washington DC 1957 Hansard, Mary A., "Old Time Tazwell" Published by Lorena H. WILSON, Sweetwater TN 1979 Printed by Kingsport Press, Inc., Kingsport, TN. "Virginia Magazine of History and Biography". Vol X, pp 141, July 1902. Wingfield, Marshall, "An Old Virginia Court", being a Transcript of the Records of the First Court of Franklin County Virginia, 1786-1789, The West Memphis Historical Society, Memphis TN 1948 A descriptive sketch of Jesse WARD and his family is found on page 259 "Old Time Tazwell", and William WARD is mentioned on page 63 of the same book. William WARD is referred to as Dr. William WARD, a very rich old gentleman----" Asa WARD is also referred to as "Dr. Asa WARD" in the inventory of Daniel WARD's estate. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Family group sheet compiled by Charles McKNIGHT of Claremore OK indicates Asa WARD was married 3x -- 1m Susanna SINK 2 May 1814 Franklin Co VA 2m Jane SHIPMAN 3m Sarah Ann COPLEY +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Typed 6/11/96 Tom & Carolyn WARD in SE KS tcward@www.columbus-ks.com P.O. Box 77 Columbus, KS 66725-0077 (316)429-3475 Contributed by: lkista@unm.edu "Linnea"