Will of Elias Spencer In the name of God, amen. I, Elias Spencer, farmer, a citizen of the County of Choctaw and State of Mississippi, do hereby make and declare this my last will and testament-and I humbly commend my Soul to God my Savior and as for what earthly goods it has pleased the Lord to bless me with, I dispose of them in the following manner, to wit: 1st. I give to my wife, Sara, for and during the term of her natural life the following described lands which include my present residence, to wit: the west 1/2 of the north west 1/4 of Section 4, Township 21, Range 10 east, also the North east 1/4 and east 1/2 of the North west 1/4 and the North 1/2 of the east 1/2 of the South west 1/4 of Section 5, Township 21, Range 10 east and, at her death, the said lands together with all the hereditaments and appertenances belonging to the same to descend to and be the individual property of my son, Henry E. Spencer. 2nd. I also give to my wife Sara, for and during the term of her natural life, the following named Slave, to wit: a Negro man called Tilman, one woman called Louiasar and her child Napolean, and at her death, the said Slave together with all their increase, if any, to be divided equally between all my lawful heirs. 3rd. I also give to my wife Sara all my household and kitchen furniture, my blacksmith tools, all my farming tools, oxen and my new road wagon, all my stock of hogs, twelve head of cattle of her own choosing, all my mules and horses, except two mules, Jack and Jenny which I wish sold, and put into the general division, all my corn and fodder of my present crop, my distillery stands. I wish my son Henry E. Spencer to take care of his mother while she lives and should there be any of this last named property left at her death, I give it to him. 4th. Of the amount due for my last years (1854) cotton crop, I give three hundred (300) dollars to Henry E. Spencer and three hundred (300) dollars to M. M. Vance and the remainder, if any, to go into the general division. 5th. Out of my present crop (1855) I wish the groceries and necessaries furnished for my wife and M.M. Vance for the rest year and the remainder to go into the general division. 6th. I give to my son-in-law, Michael M. Vance, the following described lands, to wit: the west 1/2 of the North west 1/4 and the North 1/2 of the west 1/2 of the South west 1/4 of Section 5, Township 21, Range 10 east. Also the South 1/2 of the east 1/2 of the North east 1/4 of Section 6, Township 21, Range 10 east. I also give him one Negro boy named David and the Negro girl I have already given him that is dead named Mary, all of which I give him over and above his distributed share of my estate. 7th. I give to the children of my deceased daughter Elizabeth, the wife of James Vance, a Negro girl called Malinda and all her increase not to be divided among them until the youngest child comes of age. This Negro to be theirs over and above the distributive share of my estate. 8th. I give to my son George W. Spencer, a Negro boy called Arthur. Also I give him the following described land, to wit: the south 1/2 of the South west 1/4 of Section 32, Township 22, Range 10 east, all of which I give him over and above his distributive share of my estate. 9th. I give to the children of my oldest son John Spencer in cash as follows to wit: to Elias M., William and Elizabeth B., each one hundred and fifty ($150) dollars, to Sara C. three ($300) dollars, to the children of Mary J. three ($300) dollars,that is to both of them to be divided equally between them. 10th. The following Slaves, to wit: David, John, Will, Mary (a woman) Sara and her infant child, Joe, George Senior and George Junior, Easter, Ann, Sylvanus, Taylor, Thomas, Riley, Hanner, Kirk, Burris, Margaret, Jane and Mary, a girl, I wish sold to to the highest bidder on a credit of twelve months and the proceeds equally divided between nine heirs to wit: my son William Spencer, Peter Spencer, Levi Spencer, the heirs of my son Green Spencer, my son George W. Spencer and Celia, my daughter, wife of Short Long, the heirs of Elizabeth L., my daughter, wife of James Vance, my daughter Nancy, wife of Michael M. Vance and my son Henry E. Spencer, share and share alike. 11th. I have given to my son, Elias Spencer, two Negroes which I value at two thousand ($2000) dollars. Now if the sale of the Slaves mentioned in the preceeding clause does not amount to two thousand per share then Elias Spencer must pay back enough to make their shares equal to his. And, if the sale amounts to more than two thousand per share, then Elias Spencer shall be entitled to enough out of the sale to make his portion equal to theirs. 12th. All the residue of my estate, I wish equally divided among my lawful heirs. 13th. I appoint Michael M. Vance and Henry E. Spencer executers to this, my last will and testament and in case of the death of either of them, I wish my son, William Spencer, to fill the vacancy. Being of sound mind and correct judgement, I sign and Seal this my last will and testament on this the 11th day of January A.D. 1866. In presence of: Elias Spencer John Lovett A.B. Hicks Gideon (his mark) [This will of Elias Spencer, born 4/11/1778, died 9/6/1856, is a handwritten copy apparently made for the use of one of the executors, Henry E. Spencer, as he settled the Spencer estate. It is uncertified. The copy remained with Henry with other estate papers until his death in 1901. At that time, Henry's only surviving chid, Martha Jane (Mattie Jane) Spencer married and took the papers with her to Texas. She and her husband then moved to Oklahoma and upon her death, the documents were kept by her daughter. The documents are now in the possession of Mattie Jane's granddaughter, Mary Ann Steelhammer. She has graciously allowed the transcription of the will by another descendant of Elias Spencer, Frank Spencer, for publishing on the Internet for the use of geneologists. I have taken the liberty to add capitalization and punctuate the text where appropriate to make the document more understandable. ==================================================================== 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. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Frank Spencer ====================================================================