Will of Alexander B. McPherson, Lowndes, Alabama http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/lowndes/wills/willbockc/abmepherson.txt ================================================================================ USGENWEB NOTICE: All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed and copyrighted by: Carolyn Golowka http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002972 ================================================================================ January 2002 Will of Alexander B. McPherson Lowndes County, Alabama Will Book C, pages 21 - 22 State of Alabama } In the Name of God, Amen! I, Alexander B. McPherson of the County Lowndes County } and State aforesaid, being of sound disposing mind and memory, do Make, constitute, ordain, publish and declare the following to be my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all others. Item 1st: It is my will and I do direct that after my death that my Executors hereafter named shall as speedily as possible pay all my just debts from the proceeds of what cash, cotton, notes or bonds accounts due me, that I may leave on hand at my death. Item 2nd: It is my will, and I do hereby direct, authorize & empower my Executors to keep together on my land & plantation in said County all my personal property, consisting of slaves, horses, mules, cattle, hogs, & plantation tools & utensils, in fact, all my property that be necessary to carry on a farm or plantation & make crops until my youngest child shall become twenty years of age, or shall marry, for the purpose of the support and maintenance of my wife, and all my children, for the education of those I may leave uneducated at my death, and that there shall be a home for all my children until any of them shall marry, when they or either of them shall be entitled to annual support out of my Estate no longer, or receive their distributive share until the first distribution hereafter directed. Item 3rd: It is my will and I do hereby direct & authorize & empower my Executors to make distribution of all my property between my wife & children when my youngest child shall become full age, or shall marry in the following manner, to-wit: I hereby will and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Mary A. McPherson, such portion out of my personal property as she may be entitled to at my death, according to the statute of distribution then in force in Alabama unto her and her heirs forever; and as to my real estate, it is my will that my wife shall take her dowry out of same, according to the Statute of Alabama in force at my death, which portions of my land I will and bequeath & devise unto my said wife during her natural life, and at her death unto all my children, share and share alike, to them and their heirs forever. The balance of my property both real and personal, I will and bequeath & devise unto all my children surviving me, share and share alike, the children of those deceased taking their deceased parent's share, unto them and theirs forever. Item 4th: It is further my will that in the event my wife shall again marry before such time as I have already directed for the distribution of my property, then she shall be entitled to receive from my Executors her distributive portion of my personal property as above bequeathed to her, and my Executors shall pay her, in cash, whatever her dower in my land may be worth at her second marriage, which shall be in lieu of her said dower. And further, the Executor ship to which she is hereafter appointed shall cease, and her nor such future husband shall in any manner have any control whatever of my Estate after such marriage. 5th; It is my will & desire * I do direct that my Executors shall in no instance be authorized or allowed to sell any portion of the corpus of my property for the support of my family & education of my children, but for all such expenditures they shall only use the proceeds of the rents & profits of my Estate, unless some great disaster may befall that would cause the rent & profits to be insufficient for that purpose. The education of my children shall be considered according to the judgment and discretion of my Executors and the resources above recited. Item 6th: It is further my will that should there be a surplus to accrue from the rents & profits of my Estate after the support of my family & education of my children, then my Executors are authorized to make investments in such property as in their judgment should be most profitable to my Estate & secure the same by proper legal titles & which shall be distributive as above set forth; and further, all the increase of my property of every kind shall be distributed among my wife and children as above directed. Lastly: I appoint my friend, A. M. Moseley, & my beloved wife, Mary A. McPherson, as Executor & Executrix of this my last Will and Testament, and having full confidence in them, I request that the Probate Judge of Lowndes shall not require them to give bond for their administration of my estate unless it should be afterwards ascertained that from their mismanagement my Estate was in danger of being wasted. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal on this the ___ day of February, 1864, and of the Independence of the Confederate States of America. A. B. McPherson (SEAL) W. J. Jones P. M. Bollziegar State of Alabama } Lowndes County } Probate Court of Said County. In the Matter of the Probate of the Last Will & Testament of a. b. McPherson, Deceased. Before me, James w. Graham, Judge of the said Court, personally appeared in open Court, W. J. Jones and Phillip M. Bollziregar who, having by me firs respectively duly sworn and examined did, and do depose and say, on oath, that they are each subscribing witnesses to the instrument of writing shown them and which purports to be the last will and testament of A. b. McPherson, deceased, late an inhabitant of this County, that McPherson, since deceased, signed and executed said instrument on the day the same bears date, and declared the same to be his last will and testament, and that affiants set their signatures thereto on the day the same bears date as subscribing witnesses to the same in the presence of said Testator fully capable of making his last will and testament at the time the same was so made as aforesaid. Affiant further state that said Testator was in (on) the day of the said date of said Will of the full age of twenty-on years and upwards. Subscribed & sworn to before me W. J. Jones April 25th, 1864 P. M. Bollzregar James W. Graham, Judge of Probate