Orange County NcArchives Wills.....Ruffin, Thomas April 16, 1865
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ben Franklin ben.franklin.ffru@gmail.com May 2024

Source: Loose Will, NC Archives CR 073.801
Written: April 16, 1865
Testator: Thomas Ruffin

I Thomas Ruffin, of Alamance County in North Carolina, do make and
publish this paper writing as my last Will & testament. --

    In the first place, I gave some year ago to my Daughter Catha
-rine Roulhac the House & Lots in Hillsborough, on which she reside, as an
advancement, but have not yet conveyed them.  Therefore I devise the same
to her in fee simple.-

    In the second place, Mr. Paul C Cameron purchased from me sever
-al years past the piece & parcel of land, adjoining the town of Hillsborough,
on which he resides, being the residue of the land conveyed to me by
George Pollok, which I have not hereto fore conveyed to William Cain
of the said Cameron, and paid me therefor, but I have not yet made
him a deed  Therefore I do hereby devise the same to the said Paul C.
Cameron in fee simple.  And I gave to the said Cameron a piece of
land adjoining the lands of Pratt, Heart & others in Orange County, in-
-cluding the while tract I there owned expect a parcel which I had sold
& conveyed to Pratt: which gift was by way of advancement to my daught
-er Anne, wife of said Cameron, but I have not yet conveyed it.  Now,
to complete said gift, I do hereby devise the said land to the said Paul
C. Cameron in free-simple.

    At the beginning of the present publick trouble my property was
sufficient for providing a comfortable competency for my wife and chil-
-ren, yet in the present state of things I find it out of my power to set a
value on the different part of my Estate & property, on which I can base
a satisfactory distribution among them specifically or in value.  Hence
I think it is best, under the circumstance, for my children, that what
I have should be kept in consolidated form in the hand of their
Mother (who has been as good & as affectionate Wife & Mother as
husband or children ever had) so that she shall succeed me as the Head
of the Family; and, moreover, because it is, at all event, my wish and
purpose to provide for her, according to my ability, such a subsistence
& endowment as will ensure to her the means of living as she has
been accustomed or as near it as may be, & also to be bountiful
to [blot out] her children & their families according to their necessities
& her judgment & discretion; and therefor I have advisedly deter-
-mined to give and I do hereby give to my fond & cherished wife,
Ann M. Ruffin, in fee simple & absolute property at law & in equity
the whole Residue of all my Estates & effect, rights & credits - mean-
                                                               /-ing

[page 2]
-ing hereby to leave nothing undisposed of, but to rest the whole residue legal
& equitable in my wife, who deserves all the affection & honour I have ever
felt for her or could feel.  But I hereby confirm the gifts of certain slaves which
I have heretofore made: that is, to my Son Peter Brown of the girl Anny [Amy?]; to my
Son in law John W. Brodnax of the girl Patty; to my son John K of the
man Peter; and to my son in law Edmund Ruffin Jr. of the woman Susan
& her child. - I appoint my sons Sterling, Peter Browne, & Thomas & my
Sons in law Paul C. Cameron &  John W. Brodnax the Executors of
this will, expressing the hope & expectation that they will claim no pecu
-niary compensation for any service that they may or can render to so ex-
cellent a Mother. -- In testimony whereof I do hereby set my and to
this writing, all in my own hand writing, this 16th day of April 1865.--

Signed, made & published by          }      Thomas Ruffin
the testator in our presence &       }
attested by us at this request & in  }
his presence                         }
                                     }
     Walter Gwynn                    }
     Henry Gwynn                     }
     D. A. Montgomery                }

Additional Comments:
Not found in Orange County Will Books.  However there are 13 pages found in the Loose Wills, with the will recorded on three of those pages.  The remaining pages concern the proving on the will, witnesses, etc.

The testator describes the Civil War as "the present publick trouble" and talks about the challenge that made to properly valuing and devising his property.  By the time the testator died in 1870, the bequests of slaves were moot.

The testator, Judge Thomas Carter Ruffin, married Anne Kirkland.  He is died 15 Jan 1870 (aged 82) in Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina and is buried in Saint Matthews Episcopal Church Cemetery, Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina.

D. A. Montgomery is Dvid A. Montgomery, the two Gwynn witnesses lived in Baltimore when it came to time prove the will in Feb 1870

Catharine Ruffin married Joseph Blount Gregoire Roulhac

Anne Ruffin married Paul C. Cameron

No estate papers in either Orange or Alamance County.