Georgia: Columbia County: Last Will & Testament of George Ray 12 October 1804 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store this file permanently for free access. This file was contributed by: Beverly Giles Loffler bgloffler@attbi.com ==================================================================== THE WILL OF GEORGE RAY Recorded 19th Dec 1804 Georgia I GEORGE RAY of the County of Columbia being low in body but of sound mind & disposing memory do make & ordain this my last will & testament, and constitute & appoint BENJAMIN RAY & JOHN RAY my lawful Executors— First I give and bequeath to my wife CATHERINE for & to her use during her widowhood all my stock of hogs & cattle household & kitchen furniture and also the tract of land containing fifty acres whereon my house & plantation now is to be [laid] of by my executors agreeable to the agreement made & entered into between myself & LAZARIUS LANGSTON for the other part of the tract to which the said fifty acres belongeth, & on her marriage or death which ever may first take place It is my will and desire that the said fifty acres of Land together with the personal property aforesaid be equally divided between my son GEORGE & little DAUGHTER yet unnamed Children of the said CATHERINE To them & their heirs forever. It is also my will that my said wife have the use of my horse during her widowhood, after which the said horse to be disposed of as the residue of my estate. It is my desire that my Executors attend to the execution of an agreement made between myself & LAZARIUS LANGSTON for the Land above alluded to, when ever the said Langston comply on his part. And it is my will & desire & I do give & bequeath severally & to each of them one hundred dollars apiece. And it is my will & desire & I do give & bequeath all of the rest & residue both real and personal of my estate together will all moneys & debts due me & all & every of my estate which is not herein before otherwise disposed of to be divided as follows (that is after the payments of my just debts (to wit) one ninth part severally & to each of my sons BENJAMIN RAY, JOHN RAY & WILLIAM RAY that is for each of them to have one ninth part apiece & also one ninth part severally & to each of my following sons in law JOHN STITH, WILLIAM ANSLEY, COONRAD WALL & WILLIAM STANDFORD that is for each of my said sons in law to have one ninth part apiece & also one ninth part to be equally divided between my son in law Robert Wiseman & all of the children of JAMES WRIGHT by my daughter MARY and also one ninth part to be equally divided between the heirs of the body of my daughter SARAH HILL that she hath or may have, And I do fully authorize & impower my Executors to sell & dispose of at regular public Sale any real estate that I may die possessed of except such as is herein disposed of & also to divide & settle with my legates as soon as may be except those my children & grandchildren who are infants & it is my will that those moneys be put out at interest, my Executors to sue their own discretion in laying out the annual interest of the infants money on & for them in proper proportion & to pay them their respective shares as they marry or arrive at age. Signed Sealed Published & acknowledged this twelve day of October in the year of one thousand eight hundred & four in the presence of DAVID LANGSTON, ROBERT LAZENBY, EDWARD FORBES [Signed] GEORGE RAY (LS) NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Those items enclosed in brackets [ ] are added by submitter as difficult to transcribe. Those items enclosed in parentheses ( ) appear in the will its self The capital letters for each of the names were added by the submitter for the ease of the reader. The nine shares of the estate were received as follows: (1) Benjamin Ray, listed as son (2) John Ray, listed as son (3) William Ray, listed as son, married Elizabeth Langston on 24 Nov 1793 in Columbia Co., GA (4) John Stith, listed as son-in-law, having married Elizabeth Ray on 11 Aug 1791 in Columbia Co., GA (5) William Ansley, listed as son-in-law, having married Ann Ray on 6 Feb 1804 in Columbia Co., GA (6) Coonrad Wall, listed as son-in-law, having married Rebecca Ray on 19 Nov 1798 in Columbia Co., GA (7) William Standford, listed as son-in-law, having married Ellender Ray on 10 Feb 1803 in Columbia Co., GA (8) The children of James Wright and Robert Wiseman, listed as son-in-law. After James Wright died, Mary Ray married Robert Wiseman on 27 Aug 1803 in Columbia Co., GA (9) John Hill, listed as son-in-law, having married Sarah Ray. George’s wife, Catherine received fifty acres and the stock, house, household goods and the use of a horse.