Halifax County, NC - Will of Richard Carney, 1793 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "In the name of Almighty God, Amen. I, Richard Carney of Halifax County State of North Carolina, do hereby make my last will and testment in the following manner. Item. I give & bequeath the whole use and profits incomes of my whole estate, Lands, Negroes, furniture, cattle & in general everything else whatsoever I am possessed of or with unto my lawful wife, Mary Carney during her natural life or widowhood; after the decease of my aforesaid wife, Mary Carney, Item. I give unto my son Richard Carney, five hundred & seventy three acres of pine woods land, it being falf of a piece of land (I entered*), with three negroes Frank, Easter & Mary. In like manner I give to my Son Stephen Wright Carney all the rest of my lands that I am possest of or with, after the death of my wife with two negroes Elizabeth & Dan & and her increase. Item, I give to my Daughter Elizabeth Veal two negroes Mingo and Nan and her increase. Item, I give to my daughter Mary Cofil two negroes, Charles & Dianah and her increase. Item, I give to my daughter Nancy Cotton six negroes Annes & her four children & yellow Bett and her increase. All the rest that I have given my children, such as moveable furniture & and those things is to theirs as I have given them. My will & desire is that if either of these my children should die without heir lawful of their body, that what I have given them shall be divided among the rest that shall be then living. My will and desire is that after my wifes decease, that all my estate that may remain of every kind, may be equally divided among my children and not sold without ______?** among my children. I appoint my afroesaid wife, Mary Carney, & my son Richard Carney & my son Stephen Wright Carney executors of this my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have set my hand & seal this twenty first day of April 1792. Richard Carney SEAL John Edwards Elijah Pope Halifax County February Session, 1793 when this will was ixhibited in open court & dule proved by the oaths of John Edwards & Elijah Pope, the two suscribing witnesses thereto & on motion ordered to be recorded. Therefore Richard Carney and Stephen W. Carney, the executors in the said will named, came in & was duly qualified thereto witness L. Song, CCl" * I believe "I entered" is what it says here, but I could be wrong. Richard seems to be referring to land he was granted by the state of NC. He received three grants in all, but two of them (576 acres and 570 acres) were combined and the 573 acres left to Richard, Jr. would be half. **My copy of the will is damaged at this point so I can't read the word(s) between "without" and "among", but I assume he is saying don't sell the land without agreement of my children. The will is recorded in Halifax County, NC will book 3, page 210. Most places the name of "Nancy Cofil" is spelled Coffield. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Robert L. Carney ___________________________________________________________________