This straight-forward publication contains the full text of Jefferson County wills from 1792 through 1810 and is complemented by a short history of the county.
An Interesting Side Note
One settlement gives a listing of persons in the county that owed money to a doctor. This lists includes over 265 individuals and may well be the best indicator of who resided in Jefferson County in 1810.
Examples
Below are two examples of short full-text wills contained in this publication. Some of the wills are very, very lengthy. (spellings and text left intact-exactly as written.)
Joel Elmore of Jefferson County make this his last will & testament: to Rebecka my wife all my real and personal estate; to my son Mordica all my land to be him at my widow's death; to my two daughter Ann and Hannah all the remaining part of the moving property.
James Ballinger makes this his last will & testament: to my wife the tract of land on which we now live that is 63 acres; to my son John shall receive this after his mother's death; to daughter Anna Ballinger, a cow; to daughter Sarah Ballinger a cow; to Isaac Ballinger and Jacob Ballinger, my sons, equal shares of the estate also Jonathan and Evin Ballinger my sons to have 30 acres of land out of a sixty acre tract of land beloning to me in Bunkem County, Jonathan to have the west end and Evan to have the East end; to son Josiah Ballinger 50 acres of land belonging to me out of a hundred and fifty acres tractk of land lying in Bunkem County; to my son James & Jesse Ballinger to have the remainder of the 150 acre tract; to son James to pay unto Hanna Embree, Mary Embree and Lyda Roberts 5 shillings. John Ballinger to have my rifle gun and a colt.
James L. Douthat
1985, paper, 44 pp.
101E-TN0004
