Jefferson County AlArchives Court.....Bass, Andrew August 4, 1854 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: L. Hanke lhbham@yahoo.com February 8, 2006, 5:10 pm Source: Loose Records Cty Court B'ham Alabama Written: August 4, 1854 Recorded: 1889 City Court of Birmingham, Jefferson County Alabama Loose Records, Box 8859, Case No. 900 Will of Andrew Bass as Exhibit A in land dispute In the name of God, amen. I, ANDREW BASS, of the County of Jefferson and State of Alabama, do this day, being weak in body but of sound mind, make this, my last will and testament. Article First. It is my desire that my just debts shall be paid. Article Second. I give all my property belonging to me, both real and personal, to JANE BASS, my beloved wife, her life time. (The typist of this copy entered as evidence may have missed some words from the original handwritten will. He did misspell a testator's last name) Article Third. It is my desire my son ANDREW JACKSON BASS have one young horse called Trump, when he becomes of age. Article Fourth. It is my desire and wish that each one of my sons shall have a horse, saddle and bridle worth eighty five dollars as they become of age. Article Fifth. It is my desire that at the death of my wife Jane, that my property, both real and personal, be sold and equally divided among my heirs, making up to my sons the value of a horse, bridle and saddle worth eighty-five dollars, if any of them should lack. Article Sixth. It is my desire that my son WILLIAM J. BASS have equal power with my wife Jane Bass in settling my estate. August 4th, 1854. Andrew Bass. Thomas Gore. Test.: Smith T. Gammon. T. P. Fagason This should have been Ferguson, as you will see below. ------------------------------ Andrew Bass died August 19, 1854 at his residence situated in the W ½ of NW ¼ of Section 8, Township 17, Range 1W in Jefferson County Alabama. A land dispute in 1889 named wife Jane Bass, children W. J. (William) Bass, A. J. (Andrew Jackson) Bass, J. W. Bass – all of Jeffco, J. B. Bass of St.Clair County, Nancy E. Bass Ellard, wife of William Ellard, Martha E. Bass, W. R. Bass – all of Jeffco, S. M. Bass of Shelby County, and George Bass who “died many years ago after his father’s death. He didn’t marry and he didn’t have children.” Jane Bass died in Jefferson County April 14, 1887. After her death, most of the children filed a suit against Martha Bass and others. The complaint sought to show the following:  Before his death, Andrew Bass gave money to Willis Burns of Tuscaloosa County Alabama, living near the city of Tuscaloosa. Burns was to use the money, $52.50 to buy land for Bass: NW ¼ of SW ¼ Section 5, Township 17, Range 1W in Jefferson County. By accident or mistake, Burns failed to enter the land at the office in Tuscaloosa for Andrew Bass. Burns still had the money at the time of Bass’ death.  After William J. Bass and Jane Bass probated the will, Jane went to Tuscaloosa and filed for land in her own name, land near their homestead: SE ¼ of NE ¼ Section 6, the NW ¼ of SW ¼ Section 5, the E ½ of NW ¼ Section 8, all in Township 17, Range 1W. She got the money from Willis Burns to pay for it, doing so under the “bit law” where she got the land for 12 ½ cents an acre.  The children claimed that in so doing, this land became part of the trust set up for them by their father (i.e. Jane had everything Andrew had until she died, and then it became theirs to share equally). They said that by using the original money Andrew had given Burns to buy land, Jane had put this new land under that original trust.  Between 1854 and 1877, Jane sold 15 acres of this land to T. P. Ferguson, 4 acres to Marion Goodwin, and gave a “gift of land without consideration paid” to Martha Bass. Martha, in turn, sold the land at a good profit to George Morris. The Plaintiffs (all the other children) wanted the profits of the land sales put back into the common fund to be equally divided among all of them. J. W. Bass, a material witness, got permission to be deposed since he was over 60, infirm, and resided in the Chickasaw Nation, in the Indian Territory. Willis Burns lived near Stonewall, also in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, and was over 62. However, the Court sustained the demurrers of the defendants, which claimed the statute of limitations had run out since the land transactions, and the case was dismissed. Plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court of Alabama. The result would be in the court records in Montgomery. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/jefferson/court/bass130gwl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb