WAKE COUNTY, NC - WILLS - William Speight, 2 Jul 1773 ==================================================================== 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. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Doris Jones Scott dorisjsc@juno.com ==================================================================== WILL OF WILLIAM SPEIGHT Wake County, North Carolina 2 July 1773 Book A, Pages 40, 41, 42, 43 Clerk of Superior Court WAKE COUNTY JUNE TERM 1774 Last Will and Testament of William Speight Deceased In the Name of GOD Amen this Second day of July in the Year of Man’s Redemption One thousand Seven hundred Seventy and three I William Speight of Wake County in the Province of North Carolina planter, being Sick, and weak, in Body but of perfect mind and Memory do make and Ordain this my last Will and Testament in the following manner and form ­ Imprimis, I lend unto Abigail my Well beloved Wife the use and profit of the Plantation whereon I live with the Land in that Tract thereunto Adjoining being by Estemation two hundred and forty Acres and two Negroe Men both Named Dick and One Negroe Woman Named Sarah, and two feather Beds and furnitures thereto belonging and Six Cows and their Calves two Steers and three Yearlings and three Mares One Rhoan One Bay & One Black in Coular and One black Horse or Gelding and all my Hogs raised at the said Plantation One Iron pot and One third part of my Pewter and One side Saddle, and my Plantation Tools, & Casks and Six Chairs and One Disk and One Small walnut Table and One pine Do and One linin Wheel and One Woollen Do and One washing Tubb and One water pail and One piggin, which use or lent of the above said things to my abovesaid Wife 41 I desire may be and remain for and during her Widowhood or Natural Life and no longer. Item, I give unto my Daughter Winifred Speight and to her heirs and assigns forever One fether bed and furniture and One Chest that was my Mothers and five Chairs and four Cows and their Calves, and two Steers and One Rhoan Coulared Horse or Gelding and One side Sadle and One third part of my Pewter, and as soon as the above lent of the Negroe Man Dick which was my Mothers is Expired tomy said Wife either by the Marriage or Death of my said Wife for him to revert to my said Daughter Winifred as & in manner of the other things above given. Item I give to my Daughter Patience Speight and to her Heirs and Assigns forever the Revertion of the other Negro Man Dick above lent to my said Wife after the Expiration of the said lent and One feather bed and furniture One Ovill Table and five Chairs and One black Walnut Chest and One third part of Pewter and four Cows and their Calves, and four two Year old Cattle- Item I give unto my Son William Speight and to his Heirs and Assigns forever my Cooper Alembick or Still One Whip Saw and One Crosscutt Saw, and the Reversion of the Land and Plantation above lent to my said Wife after the Expiration of the said lent. Item it is my further desire in Case any of my said Children theretofore or hereafter Named should depart this life without issue for the Reversion of their Estate to be Distributed in equal Degree among my Surviving Children or their Representatives Except in Case of the Death of Either of my Maiden Daughters abovesaid Winifred or Patience should as aforesaid die without issue. that before such distribution the Survivor of the two may Inheritt the Negroe Man above given if left a live at the time of the Death of the other Sister and that the same two Maiden Daughters may inherett an Equal Moiety of the Money That the Negro Woman Sarah above lent to my said Wife shall sell for at fair Sale after the lent to my Wife is Expired, Item I give to Reuben Hunter Junr my Grandson and to his Heirs and Assigns forever the Survey of Land whereon William _______ Now lives and ten pounds proclamation Money to pay for the taking out or the Issuing a Deed for the Same at the Opening of the Propriators Land Office, and my Negroe Boy Named Pompey and four heifers three Years old each,and One Grey Horse and One New Small Gun, and in case He should depart this life without issue and under the Age of twenty One Years for the Estate above given to him by me to revert to his Brother Dempsey Hunter and to his Heirs and Assigns forever. Item I give tomy Daughter Mary Miate and to her heirs and assigns forever One Negro boy named Sam, and One black walnut Chest. Item I give to my Son in law Silius Green all the right and property I have hold or Claim to a Survey of Land Surveyed for William Brown Jr and Sold to Abner Leegatt and by him Sold to me in Consideration that the said Silius Green hath agreed to pay me five pounds proclamation Money for the purchase of it to him and his heirs and Assigns forever; Item as I have Advanced some part of portion not heretofore mentioned to some to some of my Children not yet herein Named all the rest of my Estate Real and personal in those hands, Custody or Possession soever the Same or any part or parcel thereof be to be Equally Divided among my Eight Children Namely my Son William Speight and my Daughters Sarah Hunter, Lydia Lane, Charity Green, Betty Turner, Mary Miate, Winifred Speight and Patience Speight, and 43 and I do hereby revoke and Disannul all former Wills and Testaments, by me made, hereby Declaring this and no other to be by last Will and Testament adding thereunto that I do hereby nominate and appoint my loving Wife Abigail and my only Son William Speight my only and Sole Executrix and Executor, to this my last Will and Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto Sett my hand and Affixed my Seal the Day and Date above Written ­ Signed Sealed and Acknowledged ) In presence of - - ) William Speight (L. S.) William Utley his Isham X Uttley mark Jesse Lane Wake County June Term 1774 Then was the within last Will and Testament of William Speight in Open Court duly proved by the Oath of William Uttley and Isham Uttley, and Ordered to be Recorded ­ John Rice C C Wake County June Term 1774 The within last Will and testament of William Speight was Recorded in the Clerks Office in Wake County in Book A and pages (40,41,42, & 43) this 22d Day of June 1774 ­ Test John Rice C C Wake County June Term 1774 A True and perfect Inventory of the Goods and Chattles of Mr. William Speight Deceased as the same is come to the Hands Knowledge or Possession of the Executor of the said Deceasants Will and first of the Legacies &c &c , To 2 Negro (Incomplete) (Will transcribed by Walter and Doris Scott.) NOTES BY DORIS SCOTT: William Speight was probably born in Virginia as the Speights were in Nansemond County, Virginia, in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s before migrating to North Carolina through Perquimans and Chowan Counties and settling in Craven County in the section that became Johnston County in 1746 and then part of Wake County in 1770. Several land grants are recorded for William Speight in Craven County from 1751 to 1765. William Speight served as a captain in the Johnston County Militia in the French and Indian Wars in 1754. William was married to Abigail -----, and they had eight children, one son and seven daughters: William, Sarah m. Reuben Hunter, Lydia m. James (?) Lane, Charity m. Silius (Silas?) Green, Elizabeth (Betty) m. James Turner, 2 December 1771, Mary m. Mark Myatt 1 January 1772, Winefred m. Jesse Jones 1 May 1775, Patience m. --- Green. William Speight died in Wake County between July, 1771, and 2 June 1774, when his will was proved in Wake County Court. Abigail, his wife, died in 1781 in Wake County, and her will was proved in the September Term, 1781. REFERENCES: Marriages of Wake Co., NC, 1770-1868, comp. By Brent H. Holcomb, 1983. Province of North Carolina, 1663-1729, Abstracts of Land Patents, Margaret M. Hofmann, 1979. Wake: Capital County of North Caroliona, Vol. I, by Elizabeth Reid Murray, 1983. State Records of North Carolina, Vol. XXII. Colony of North Carolina: Abstracts of Land Patents, Vol. I, 1735-1754, and Vol. II, 1765- 1775, by Margaret M. Hofmann. Will of William Speight, Will Book A, pp. 40-43, Wake County, NC Will of Abigail Speight, Will Book A, p. 146, Wake County, NC