Lenoir County NcArchives History....Hardy Sutton Will, 1861 ***************************************************** 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: Joe P. Sutton, PhD, sutton@edtesting.com, November 26, 2017. Clellan Sutton Collection, Bucklesberry Community, La Grange, NC. HARDY SUTTON WILL, 1861 829.78 Will of Hardy Sutton In the name of God, Amen I Hardy Sutton Senr of the County of Lenoir and State of North Carolina being of sound mind and disposing memory but considering the worth quietly of my earthly existence do make and declare this to be my last will and testament in manner and form following that is to say; First That my executor herein after named shall provide my body a decent christian burial suitable to the wishes of my relatives and friends and my circumstances of life and pay all funeral expenses together with my just debts howsoever and to whomsoever owing out of the moneys that may first come into his hands as a part of my estate. Secondly It is my will and desire that the property being negroes, that I have heretofore by deed of gift given to Dempsey Wood and his children be his and theirs for them to hold and enjoy for their own use and benefit and which said deed of gifts I do now in every respect confirm and make it a part of this will and will Testament. Thirdly I give unto my beloved wife Ann Sutton for her life or widowhood one third of my home tract of land which shall include my dwelling house and out buildings being one third of the land given me by deed and by will of my father Benjamin Sutton deceased and at her death or marrige it is my will and desire that it shall then go to and I do hereby at that time devise and give the same unto my well beloved son Julius E. Sutton and his children forever. Fourthly I give unto my well beloved wife Ann Sutton for her life or widowhood the following negro slaves old Chaney, Elijah, Hardy, Polly, Martha and little Save, and at her death or marriage I give and bequeath the said old Chaney, Elijah and Martha to my well beloved son Lemuel H Sutton and his children forever. Fifthly I give and devise unto my well beloved son Julius E Sutton all of my home Tract of land with exception of the third thereof herein fe before to and unto my wife Ann Sutton for her life or widow hood being the land given me by deed and by will by my father Benjamin Sutton so that at the death or marriage of his mother he the said Julius E Sutton shall own the whole of my said home tract to him the said Julius E Sutton and his children forever. Sixthly at the death or marriage of my wife Ann Sutton I give and bequeath unto my son Junius E Sutton the negro woman Polly before loaned to my wife for her life or widow hood and the in crease of the said Polly from this time forth to him the said Junius E Sutton forever. Seventhly at the death or marriage of my wife Ann Sutton I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Julius E Sutton the negro slave Little Save before loaned to my wife for her life or widow hood to him the said Julius E Sutton and his children forever. Eighthly I give and devise unto my beloved son Junius E Sutton all that portion of my Uzzell tract of land that lies on the West side of the Kinston and White Hall public road and on the Pine Bush road and adjoins the lands of Dempsey Wood and Joe L Elmore and my home tract to him the said Junius E Sutton and his children forever. Ninethly I give and bequeath unto my beloved son John A Sutton all that potion of my Uzzell Tract that lies on the east side of the Kinston and White Hall public road to him the said John A Sutton and his children forever being that of the Uzzell tract of land not before given to my son Junius E Sutton. Tenthly I give unto my beloved wife Ann Sutton one bed her choice and stead and furnture [sp] and at her death or marriage I give the said bed and stead and furnture to my son Julius and his children forever. Eleventhly I give and devise unto my beloved son Thomas Sutton all of the tract of land upon which he now lives being the land that I purchased of Benjamin Sutton to him the said Thomas Sutton and his children forever provided and on condition that he pays over to my son Lemuel H Sutton the sum of one thousand dollars with which payment I do hereby charge said land But if the said Thomas Suttonshould depart this life without leaving lawful begotten children his survivers [sp] there and in that went the said land shall be divided into two portions of one third and two thirds each and the one third portion is my will and desire that the wife of the said Thomas Sutton my beloved daughter in law Julia A Sutton shall own and have for and during her life of widowhood on condition and provided that the said Julia Ann Sutton shall never sell the same to anyone save and excepting to some of my own children and at her death or marriage I give and devise it to my children to be equally divided between them each to share and to share alike and at the death of the said Thomas Sutton without leaving lawfully begotten children him surviving them the two thirds portion of said land it is my will and desire shall be divided between all my children for them to share and to share alike Twelfthly at the death or marriage of my wife Ann Sutton I give and bequeath the negro slave Hardy before loaned to my wife for life or till she married unto my beloved son Thomas Sutton and his children forever but if he the said Thomas Sutton should die without leaving lawful begotten child or children heirs surviving it is my will and desire that the said Hardy shall be divided between all my children for them to share and to share alike. Thirteenthly I give and bequeath unto my beloved daughter Nancy Wooten wife of Joseph Wooten and her children forever the following negro slaves viz Rachel, Mary, George, Wright, Hester, Charity, Leah, Albert child of Mary and their future increases and all other property which I have before now put into her possession. Fourteenthly I give and devise unto my well beloved son William H Sutton all that tract of land upon which he now lives and which I bought of Wm J. Hunter to him and his children forever but provided and on condition that he pays over to my son Benjamin F Sutton the sum of one thousand dollars which payment I do hereby charge said land. Fiftenthly I give and devise to my well beloved son Lemuel H Sutton and his children forever one half of my Frog Point one tract of land being the half upon which he now lives and the said tract to be divided according to quality. Sixteenthly I give and devise unto my well beloved son B. F. Sutton and his children forever one half of my Frog Point tract of land being the half other that above given to Lemuel H Sutton and his children the said tract to be divided according to quality: Seventeenthly I lend unto my beloved son in law Jol [Joel] Elmore for and during his own life provided he does not outlive his present wife my beloved daughter Martha Elmore and if he does so outlive her his said present wife the said Martha Elmore there so long as she does live the following negro slaves July, Mila, Margaret, June, and Rufus and their future increase and if the said Martha Elmore does so outlive her present husband the said Joel Elmore then and in the event I lend all of the said negro slaves and their increase to her for and during her own life and at her death I give and bequeath all the said negro slaves and their increase unto her children by her present or future marriage but to the exclusion of any child or children by her had and bore by any former marriage. Eighteenthly I give and bequeath unto my well beloved daughter Sallie H Sutton and her children forever the following negro slaves viz Mary, Gatsey and Arter and their future increase. Ninteenthly I give and bequeath unto my well beloved daughter Louisa Sutton and her children forever the following negro slaves viz Clarkey, Avey, and Barbara child of Polly and their increases. Twenteenthly I give and bequeath unto my well beloved daughter Christiania Sutton and her children forever the following negro slaves to wit Luby, Charity, and her little Nice and their future increases. Twenty firstly It is my will and desire that if any of my children sons or daughters to whom I have given any portion of my property as well lands as negros should die without leaving lawful begotten children their surviving the portions of there so desiring with the exception of that given to my son Thomas Sutton for with regard to his portion provision has already been made shall be equally divided between my children for them to share and share alike as they would do under our laws of Distribution were I to die intestate. Twenty secondly It is my will and desire that my executor here in after named shall collect all the debts to me owing sell all my perishable estate of all and every kind and species and the following negro slaves viz Nicey, aged about 43 years, Alfred big son aged 30 years, Jerry, Prince, Isac, George, and Allen on such a credit as to him may seem best and out of the proceeds of the Said sale to pay all my just debts and funereal [sp] expenses and the surplus if any it is my will and desire to be divided between all my children and their children for them to share and share alike as they would do under our law of Distribution were I to die intestate And I do hereby constitute an appoint my trusty faithful and dutiful son Benjamin F Sutton my lawful executor to all interests and purposes to execute this my last will and testament according to the intent and meaning of the same in every part and clause thereof hereby revoking and declaring utterly were all other wills and testament by me heretofore made In witnes [sp] where of I the said Hardy Sutton Sr do here unto set my hand and seal this 28 day of February 1861 Hardy Sutton Sr. END OF DOCUMENT Comments: Although included in the Collection, this document is a copy the original, the owner and location of which have not been identified as of the preparation of this transcript. Daughter, Louisa, although named in the Hardy Sutton will died in May, 1861, several months after the writing of the will on February 28, 1861. Two of the 14 children born to Hardy and Annie Hill Sutton are not named in Hardy’s will: Richard and Elizabeth. Richard, who died in 1856, preceded his father. The only one of the 13 surviving children not included in Hardy’s will was daughter, Elizabeth, who married Dempsey Wood. Observably excluded from the will, it is unclear why, other than her husband, Dempsey Wood, already owned farm land next to the Neuse River in Bucklesberry, located just off current Pine Bush Road and presently owned by Kirby and Grace Sutton and Alton and Lorena Sutton descendants. The Alton and Lorena homeplace house has been identified as the Dempsey Wood house. Re: Thomas Sutton. Land purchased from Benjamin Sutton in the will likely refers to Hardy’s brother, Benjamin, rather than his father, Benjamin, since Hardy’s father, Benjamin died in 1837, long before the 1861 date of Hardy’s will. The Benjamin named here could not have been Thomas’ brother, Benjamin Franklin, else his middle name, Franklin, would have been included, as Franklin was included in numerous other documents in the Collection to differentiate him from others in the extended family also named Benjamin Sutton. Ollie Sutton Bruner (personal communication, 3.27.15) reported that one of Benjamin Franklin Sutton’s daughters took care of his brother, Thomas and wife, Julia, until their deaths. They subsequently willed Benjamin's daughter their land. At some point, this daughter had a son, who had an accident in college (broken back), and the Thomas and Juilia farm was sold to Richard (Dick) Jeter Dawson, Sr. Dick's son, Fred H. Dawson and E. Earl Eubanks built the D&E Milling Co. where Gene and April Parrish’s house now stands, and across the corner from Joe and Connie Sutton’s house. Thomas and Julia’s house was the hip-roofed house originally located in from of Joe and Connie Sutton’s house, which was purchased, relocated, and restored by Roy and Libby Sutton Smith, and now situated on the Kennedy Home Rd. Ollie says father, Clellan, stated that these hip-roofed houses were constructed out of lightwood around the Civil War period, and were one-storey houses, as opposed to two-storey homes built in the early-1800s. Roy Smith told Joe that, when the Thomas Sutton house was being moved to its current location, they found the year, 1857, carved in the mortar on the back side of the fireplace chimney in the house. Re: William H Sutton. Ollie Sutton Bruner (personal communication, 3.27.15) remembers a hip-roof house located on the corner of Harold Sutton and Barwick Station Roads directly across the highway from Jean and Pete Pate's house. This was William Sutton’s house. This house was purchased by Clifton Sutton in the late-1970s. Relocated and restored, the house presently sits direclty off the Harold Sutton Road toward Hwy 70. Joe Sutton remembers the old William Sutton house at its original location as the meeting place for the Bucklesberry Boy Scout Troop 554 during the 1960s and 1970s. Re: Lemuel H. Sutton. An 1866 hand-drawn map by William Arthur owned by Lucile Sutton Beaman identfies Lemuel Sutton with a 246-acre tract of land. This is the same Lemuel H. Sutton, son of Hardy and Annie Hill Sutton, identified in Hardy Sutton’s will. Section ‘Fifteenthly’ of the will states that the land bequeathed to Lemuel was located in the Frog Point area of Bucklesberry, which was the geographic location of Lemuel's land on the map. Still referred to as Frog Point today, Lemuel’s section of land as surveyed on the Arthur map was situated on the North side of the Neuse River, and included land on the East and West sides of the current Hardy Bridge Road. Lemuel’s land included the current bridge area and sandbar (noted as ‘fishery’ on the map). Wesley Allen Sutton and the man with whom he farmed purchased a 40 +/- acre tract of land in this same area from Barbara Sutton Bright in the 1980’s. Barbara was one of the four daughters of Hodges and Ruby Sutton. Hodges was a son of George Sutton, a son of Junius Eli Sutton, twin brother of Julius Eri Sutton, also sons of Hardy and Annie Hill Sutton. Re: William Arthur. See http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/lenoir/deeds/langsjonesD.txt http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/lenoir/documents/hinesjmColl.txt White Hall public road named in the will was what is now Kennedy Home Road.