Chowan County NcArchives Wills.....Henley, Peter 1758 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Nola Duffy nduffy@patch.net September 24, 2008, 12:40 am Source: Nc Wills & Inventories - Grimes Written: 1758 PETER HENLEY'S WILL. IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I, Peter Henley, Esquire, Chief Justice of the Province of North Carolina, Do make this my last Will and Testament in Manner & form following, Viz: Imprimis. I direct all my just Debts & funeral Expences to be paid; And whereas, just before my leaving England I was on the point of being married to Agnes Tucker of Corytown, near Honiton, in the County of Devon, Spinster, & Some Money was wanting to make the necessary preparations for that purpose which money, amounting to £400 Sterling, she advanced out of her own private fortune, & a short time after, to the great Disappointment of us both, the Marriage was postponed to be compleated at a future Day, after w'ch Marriage so postponed I gave her my bond bearing Interest after the rate of £5 per Cent per Annum for the sd. Sum of £400. which yet remains unpaid. My Desire is that the said Bond may be discharged Out of any Moneys that may be in my posession, or the first that shall or may be collected after my Decease, with all the Interest that shall be found due thereon according to the Tenor of the Sd. Bond. There is also a Bond of mine of £40: to Mr. Simon Bunker, of Axminster, in the County of Devon, attorney at Law, of which I am informed he has received part by a Cask of Indigo weighing 1371, but how much I cant tell, because I have never had the Account of Sales. There is also a trifling Debt to Mr. Benjamin Mayberry, Taylor, of Craven Buildings, near Drury Lane, London, All which I desire may be paid the Bonds cancelled. I Know of no others, & the first of these would not have been at all necessary but upon the critical Occasion on which it was advanced. With Respect to the rest of My Estate, Plantations, Negroes & Moneys with w'ch it has pleased God to bless me (except hereafter excepted) I hope they will be so managed & expended as to be most for the Interest and Advantage of my Son John Henley, to whom I devise all my Lands, Tenements & Hereclit- aments, and all my personal Estate that shall not be disbursed for the payment of my Debts, Investing them however in John Campbell of Lazy Hill, Esqr., for whose humanity & Integrity I have the highest Honour & Regard. In trust, nevertheless to & for the Only Use & behoof of my sd. Son, John Henley, His Heirs and Assigns forever. And I earnestly entreat the sd. John Campbell, whom I hereby appoint Executor of this my last Will & testament to forward the Education of my Son as much as he can, & to endeavour to make him an useful Mem- ber of Society. And, whereas I have a great Deal of Good furniture, w'ch it will be better to Dispose of than keep, as also sundry parcells of Liquors, Molasses & Sugar, I wo'd chuse they should all together with my Chariott, be sold at publick Auction some Day During the Supreme Court at Edenton, which shall be held next after my Decease, for ready money only, (I mean all except my plate, w'ch I would have reserved), after having been first advertised for some time in the Carolina & Virginia Gazettes. And the moneys arising from such Sale to be applied for the purchasing of Negroes for the better stocking & improv- ing my plantations. And as I have observed great Losses & Damages arising to Orphans from the Buildings upon their plantations being suffered to run to decay, My desire is that every Edifice or Building upon my plantation in the county of Edgecombe, be kept in due repair at the Expense of my Estate, and that the Negroes w'ch I now have or w'ch hereafter may be purchased, May be constantly employed upon it under a proper Overseer, so as to make it turn to most account, & whatever money it may annually produce, the expense of my Sons Education and other Disbursements being first Deducted, my Executor to apply the Overplus most beneficially for my sd. Son, either in the purchase of young Slaves or any thing else he shall judge most proper. Item. I beg my said Executor would accept of 20l procla- mation Money, for Mourning & a Ring & I hereby revoke all & every other Wills or Wills by me heretofore made. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal, this 23d. Day of November, 1757. Peter Henley (Seal) Signed, Sealed, published & declared as & for the sd. Peter Henley, Esqrs. last Will & Testa- ment. Also in Our presence & We in the presence of each other have subscribed our names as Witnesses the 23d Day of November, 1757: SARAH MCCULLOCH. JOSEPH MONTFORD. RICHD. BROWNRIGG, Jurat. NORTH CAROLINA, CHOWAN COUNTY. SS July County Court, 1758. Present His Majesty's Justices. The above last Will & Testament of the Honourable Peter Henley, Esquire, deceased, was duely proved in open Court by the Oath of Mr. Richard Brownrigg, according to Law; and at the Same time John Camp- bell Esquire, Qualified as Executor to the said Last Will and Testament, by taking the Oath Prescribed by Law for the Qualification of Executors. Ordered that the Secretary have notice that Letters Testamentary may Issue thereon. Test. Tho. JONES, Cler. Cur. Endorsement on Back of Will. The Last Will & Testament of Peter Henley, Esqr., who departed this life on Tuesday the 25th. day of Aprill, 1758, about nine O'clock in the morning, & was interred in the church in Edenton on the evening the 27th. of Same month, at six o'Clock in the evening, in a Decent manner, and much Lamented by his Acquaintance. Copied from the Original Will, filed in the Office of the Secretary of State. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/chowan/wills/henley668nwl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ncfiles/ File size: 6.2 Kb