Amanuensis Monday: Will of Francis Toms 1633-1712

Francis Toms Sr. was my maternal 8th great grandfather and part of my Quaker heritage. In 1689 his daughter Mary Toms, married Gabriel Newby, son of William and Isabel (Turner) Newby. My Newby ancestors finally daughter out with my maternal grandmother, Mary Fern (Newby) Runyan. 

Detailed Toms genealogy is contained in The Batchelor-Williams Families and Related Lines by Lyle Keith Williams, Fort Worth, Texas, 1976. According to Williams, "Francis Toms 'who came into Virginia about 1649' and was 'age 77 in 1710,' lived about nine years in Martin's Brandon on the South Side of James River (Charles City County, now Prince George County). He then moved to the adjoining county of Surry about 1660, and in 1669 moved to North Carolina. He was among the earliest settlers of Albemarle County, North Carolina. He and his family were accepted in the Society of Friends in 1672".

Friends Meeting House New Garden, NC 1869

The Will of Francis Toms Sr.

Perquomons In No Carolina ye 6th Day of ye 10 Month 1709 I Francis Tomes Snr being of a Sound mind & memory considering ye Uncertainty of this life Doe make & ordain this my last will & testament In manner & forme as followeth Vizt My will is that my estate Shall not be brought to an apraisemt but shall be distributed according to my will att ye Discretion of my Executors hereafter named & after my Just Debts are paid. I bequeath my Estate as followeth. I Give to my loving wife Mary Tomes all her waring apparrel Her Sadle Horse Her White pasing mare & her coult To her & her heirs for Ever. I Give to my loving wife all my houshould Goods & both Iron Brass peuter & other necessaries belonging To us Keeping that Steds Cuboards Chears Chests. I Give unto my loving wife three feather beds with what furniture is belonging to them During her natural Life for her Service & for ye Service of Gods people Messengers & Ministers that he Send amongst us wch feather beds to be keept in ye porch Chamber for Gods Messengers & Ministers to Lodge In & my sd wife Shall not Imbasel nor Sell away of ye Said Goods out of ye house nor of ye plantation for they Doe belong to my Son Francis Tomes & his heirs for to keep up ye truth for ye Honour of God as I have done before him too End of Time. I Give unto my Loving wife Eight Cows & Calves by their Side, foure Stear & one bull & ten sows & six Hillable Barrows & Six yewes & one Ram all which my Executors shall leave In ye hands of my Loving wife for her Sustenance & maintanace During her Natural life. I Give unto my Loving wife this manner house & all ye houses orchards & all ye Clear Ground between Reehers & ye Bridge & So to Thigpens land & Timber for rales or to Repair House or to Build on ye plantation During her natural Life. I Give to my Loving wife my horse mill & my Still & ye two mill horses During her Natural Life. I Give to my loving wife three negroes James, Moll & Pattemore During her natural life. Also Will Plato & Vestaleve till they are free. I Give to my loving wife my Loome & all ye Gores belonging to itt & all my Shoemakers Tools During her natural life. I Give to my wife my Harro & harn hoes & axes weaden hoes hilling Hoes & all other Tools belonging to ye Cropp for her Life. I Give to my son Francis Tomes Six hundred & forty acres of land my negro Sam both to him & his heirs for Ever. I Give to my Son Joshuath Tomes my negroe Mingo to him & his heirs for Ever. I Give to my Son Francis Tomes Six hundred & forty acres of land lying between Reahors land & that as was called Vosses being James Morgins To him & to his lawfully begotten or Shall be ---- of his one body for ever. I Give to my Son Francis Tomes --- fifty acres of land lying on ye sd ---- of Vosse Creak & So running to ye ---- To him & his heirs for Ever. I Give to my Son Joshua Tomes four hundred acres of Land lying on ye -------- to him & his heirs for ever lawfully begotten ------ lawfully to be begotten of his one body for Ever. I --- Give to my three Children namely Francis Tomes Joshua Tomes & Presela Nicholson to each of them one feather bed with furniture that ------- for ye said beds. I Give to my loving Daughter Mary Newby five Shillings for she had her portion when she married Gabriell. I Give to my Grandson Francis Newby Three hundred acres of land lying on the South west of Vosse Creak att ye foot of ye Bridge to him & his heirs for Ever. I Give to my Son Francis & Joshua & Presela Nicholson all ye remaining part of my Estates that Horses & mare Cattle Hoggs & Sheep to be Equally devided between them three ---, my sadle horse Sorrester I Give to Preselo Nicholson & what Debts is Due to me Either att home or abroad to be Devided into four parts one for Francis Tomes one for Joshua Tomes one for my wife one for Presela Nicholson Equally to be Devided between them foure. I Give to my wife my Bible & Isack Penningtons Booke & Francis Kongols (?) Book & ye Bob Witlet (?) Book & a book Called Marage Lost (?). I Give to my loving wife one Third part of all my tand leather & ye rest to be devided as afsd. I Give unto my loving wife one --- & a halfe of barrels with ye H----- belonging to ye Still, but If my loving wife Shall marry or move of ye plantation she shall not any of ye houshould Goods or stock from of ye plantation for Itt belongs to my Son Francis Tomes for him to act & Doe as a afsd to the Honour of God, but my Son Shall not by his one Inheritance but if my wife will stay upon ye plantation She shall not be molested During her Life. I Give to my Son Francis Tomes all my Coopers Tools. I Give to my Son Joshua my Currier knife & Still, but if my Debts Shall be brought Justly against my Estate after it is Devided then my loving wife & all my Three Children Shall pay Equall Shares. I Doe appoint my two Loving Sons Francis Tomes & Joshua Tomes To be my Executors to this my Last will Performed as Witnessed my hand & Seal ye Day & year above Said memorandum that after ye Death of my wife negroe Jane to Francis & Moll to Joshua.

Wittness hereunto-----

WB Francis Tomes

William Boge Mathew N Alberson

John Stepny

Since Itt hath pleased almighty God to take out of this world my Father In law Jno. Nichols my will is that that pt of my Estate I have Given to my Daughter Presilla now wife of Jno Kinsely to be devided ye one half to her ye other half to ye children of her by Jno Kinsely Deceased & my will is that ye windmill now building on ye plantation I live on for ye free hold my wife & Children having ye use thereof She freely for grindeing their familyes Corne helping & paying their portion toward ye keeping & repair & This I Doe declare to be a Codicil to my will.

Witness: 

Fred Jones 

Francis Tomes

Joseph Carron

To this lengthy post I have decided to include an interesting snippit taken from the Greensboro, N.C. Daily News dated Sunday, 9 Aug 1936. It is a quote from Alpheus Briggs' manuscript on Quakerism. A cache of old Quaker Meeting records had recently been discovered in a home once owned by the Lambs and before that, the Newbys; most likely Gabriel and Mary (Toms) Newby, my ancestors, although the article doesn't specify. According to Briggs, the records indicate that the home of Francis Toms Sr. was the original meeting place of the first North Carolina Yearly Meeting.

Greensboro, N.C. Daily News
Sunday, August 9, 1936

In his manuscript, page 11, Briggs writes: "On the 4th day of 4th mo. 1698 at the home of Henry White the Quarterly Meeting by unanimous agreement decide to organize a yearly meeting to be held at this center at the home of Francis Toms the elder." This was no doubt the nearest approach to a beginning to North Carolina Yearly Meeting that any existing records show. "There is hardly any question," Briggs manuscript continues, "but that this quarterly meeting and yearly meeting was 'set up' by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and not by London Yearly Meeting as some have held."

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Samuel Darling: Temperance Society of Lower Penns Neck, New Jersey

SAMUEL DARLING 1821 - 1891

Samuel Darling was my maternal great great grandfather. He was the son of William and Prissilah Cool (or Priscilla Cole) Darling. Samuel was born in New Jersey where, about the year 1844, he married  Beulah Smith (1827 - 1892) and where 5 of his 10 children were born.  In the 1850 census Samuel, Beulah, and sons William N., Samuel S., and Henry C. are found living in Lower Penn's Neck in Salem county. Samuel and Beulah were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and they moved their family to Henry Co., Indiana sometime before 1860. I have very little information on Samuel in his early life before he moved to Indiana, but recently I was able to add a little to my gleanings when I found him listed as a member of the Lower Penns Neck Temperance Society. (Top of column three)

Salem County Historical Society

In 1850 Samuel's neighbors were Charles B. and Artemisia Newell. Samuel and Beulah named two of their children (William Newell and Artemisia) after this couple so I'm interested in knowing more about their relationship, just good friends or could Artemisia be family? Charles Newell is also listed as a member of the Temperance Society.

Samuel died in Spiceland Township, Henry Co., Indiana on 16 Mar 1891 and is buried there in the Circle Grove Cemetery. Beulah died late the following year at the home of her son Samuel and is also buried in Circle Grove. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Darling Runyan was my maternal great grandmother.

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Quaker Roots: Robert Henry Whiteley 1815 - 1894

ROBERT HENRY WHITELEY  

Robert and Jane (Woollen) Whiteley were my maternal third great grandparents. Their daughter Frances Ann Whiteley married my great great grandfather Michael B. Runyan. They had two children, William N. "Willie" and Robert Noah. Willie died childless when he was 25 years old and Robert, my great grandfather, married Mary Elizabeth Darling and they had five children, one daughter dying in infancy. My granddad Lawrence remembers his Quaker grandparents as both the Whiteleys and the Darlings were members of the Society of Friends in Henry Co., Indiana.

Biography of Robert Henry Whiteley:

Robert H. Whiteley, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Caroline County, Md., Aug. 27, 1815, the eldest son of William and Frances (Newman) Whiteley, also natives of Maryland. When he was nine years old his father died and he lived with his uncle, Daniel Whiteley, five years. When fourteen years of age he began working for farmers by the year, receiving $24 for his first year's work. In 1839 he came to Indiana and located in Milton, Wayne County, where he worked on the canal a short time. In 1846 he came to Henry County and bought forty acres of land in Spiceland Township, where he has since lived, and by economy and industry has accumulated a valuable property, owning at the present time 147 acres of fine land. He was married Jan. 2, 1837, to Jane, daughter of Jacob and Nancy (Cockran) Woolen. They have had twelve children; all lived to maturity and married; eleven are still living - Frances Ann, Mary Elizabeth, George Calvert, Laura Jane (deceased), William Henry, Jacob W., Alexander C., Ruth Hannah, Sarah Catherine, John A., Alice O. and Martha M. Mr. and Mrs. Whiteley are members of the Society of Friends.

Source: History of Henry County, Indiana: Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens; Also, a Condensed History of Indiana Embodying Accounts of Pre-historic Races, Aborigines, Winnebago and Black Hawk Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History. Knightstown, IN: Eastern Indiana Pub., 1966. Print. [pg. 833]

A biography of Robert's wife Jane Woollen Whiteley can be read here: Funeral Card Friday: Quaker Roots.

Obituary of Robert H. Whiteley:

Source: New Castle Courier Friday 1-26-1894 page 8, column 5:

Robt. H. Whitely, whose sickness we have frequently noted, passed away Tuesday morning, aged 78 years. He was born and raised in Maryland, but settled in this vicinity in 1846 and has since lived here. He leaves a widow and eleven children, all of whom are good citizens. He was a member of the Friends Church. He was a good neighbor and citizen, and an upright man. The funeral took place yesterday. His brother, William, who died less than two months ago, predicted that both would die before the close of winter.

Robert and Jane are both buried in the Circle Grove Cemetery, Spiceland Township, Henry Co., Indiana.

Also see:

Heiss, Willard C. Abstracts of the Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana, Part Four. Indianapolis, IN: Historical Society, 1972. Print. [pg. 275]

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Amanuensis Monday: The Will of Joshua Newby 1848 Henry Co., Indiana

JOSHUA NEWBY 1767 - 1848

About Amanuensis Monday: John Newmark, who writes the TransylvanianDutch blog started a Monday Blog Theme called "Amanuensis Monday". John defines "amanuensis" as "a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

About Joshua Newby:

Joshua Newby was my maternal fourth great grandfather. He was the first born child of William and Elizabeth Ratliff Newby, born March 15, 1767 in Randolph Co., North Carolina.  The early settlements of the ancestral branch of the Newby family in North Carolina were in the counties bordering upon Albemarle Sound, such as Perquimans, Paspitank and Chowan. They were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Joshua married Rachel Nixon on December 21, 1789 and they had 13 children, all born in Randolph Co. In 1837 this group of Quakers, William and Elizabeth and their descendants, migrated to Henry Co., Indiana where they settled and helped establish the large Quaker settlement of that area. Their 12th child, Jacob, was my third great grandfather and he and his wife were the subjects of yesterday's post Sentimental Sunday: Beyond Serendipity

The Will of Joshua Newby

  

Source: Henry County Wills, Newcastle, Indiana

PERSI - Spring, 1994 Randolph County, N. C. Genealogical Journal

"In the name of God Amen, I Joshua NEWBY of the county of Randolph and the state of North Carolina being sick and weak of body, but of sound mind and disposing memory do this 22nd day of second month A.D. one thousand eight hundred and thirty six, make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following that is to say

1st My will and desire is that all of my just debts be paid out of my estate

2nd I will and bequeath to my daughter Penniah DAVIS; to my son Thomas NEWBY, to my daughter Elizabeth VESTAL, to my daughter Edith LEWELLING all articles of property they have received in advancement of my estate.

3rd I will t my daughter Millicant NEWBY one bed and furniture and my pided (sp) cow.

4th I will to my daughter Nancy McPHERSON ten dollars in cash to be paid her by my Executor of my estate.

5th I will to my daughter Charity SANDERS ten dollars in cash to be paid her in like manner.

6th I will to my son Joshua NEWBY as hereinafter provided.

7th I will to my son Zimri NEWBY as hereinafter provided.

8th I will to my daughter Rachel NEWBY my brown cow and beaureau furniture.

9th I will to my son Jacob the foal of my black mare, or fifty dollars in cash in case the colt shall not be sound and valuable when young as colts usually are.

10th I will my son Jabez NEWBY fifty dollars in cash.

11th I will and bequeath to my sons Joshua, Jacob, Zimri and Jabez all the land I now posess to be divided equally them four, by valuation in that my Executors sell hole of the lands and divide the proceed, of sale or a part as they may agree among themselves to be the most general satisfaction.

12th My desire is that my executor sell my personal property not disposed of to the best advantage, and after paying my debts and my bequests and satisfying all lawful charges, the nett balance in cash if any I desire to be equally divided with my sons that I have given by will my lands.

13th My desire is that my family viz Millicant, Zimri, Rachael, Jacob, and Jabez have for their support the present year if they continue to keep home, have the grain enuff food and all the provisions I have now on hand, and I hereby nominate and appoint my sons Zimri NEWBY and Jacob NEWBY executors of this my last will and testament.

In witness whereof I the said Joshua NEWBY have to this my last will and testament set my hand and seal the day and date above written."

Signed sealed published and declared by the said Joshua NEWBY the testator to be his last will and testament in the presence of us who were present at the time of signing and sealing thereof.

John HENLEY

Micajah DAVIS                                Joshua NEWBY (seal)

State of Indiana            Henry County

Personally appeared before me, Samuel HOOVER, Clerk of the Henry probate court; Henry LEWELLING, Thomas NEWBY and Joe WRIGHT who being duly affirmed say that John HENLEY and Micajah DAVIS the subscribing witnesses to the foregoing last will and testament of Joshua NEWBY, late of the said county deceased, are not residents of the state of Indiana, and said affiants Henry LEWELLING, Thomas NEWBY, and Joel WRIGHT further say upon their affirmation aforesaid that they are acquained with hand writing of the said Joshua NEWBY and that his signature to his foregoing will is genuine, and that said testator at the time of executing said will was of full age to devise his property and these affaints Henry LEWELLING and Thomas NEWBY further say upon their affirmation aforesaid that they verily believe that said testator at the time of executing said will was of sound mind and memory.

Henry LEWELLING

Thomas NEWBY

Joel WRIGHT

Affirmed and subscribed to March 21 A.D. 1848. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said probate court, this 21st day of March 1848. 

Note: The Henry County Probate Court was in use until about 1830, when it was changed to the Circuit Court, and all probate hearings were held there. In all deaths, regardless of a will, all estate settlements still had to go to a court hearing.

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Funeral Card Friday: Quaker Roots

Jane Woollen Whiteley 1820 - 1896

Jane Woollen was born in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1820. Her parents were Jacob and Nancy Cochran Woollen. She married Robert H. Whiteley in Maryland in 1837.  She joined the Methodist Church at the age of 13.  In 1848 she and her husband joined the Friends [Quaker] church.  She and her husband lived in Milton of Wayne County, Indiana but lived the greatest part of their life on the farm northest of Spiceland in Henry County, Indiana. The farm was located at what is today Interstate 70 and Highway 3.  She and her husband are buried in Circle Grove Cemetery in Spiceland.

Jane and Robert were my third great grandparents. Their daughter Frances Ann Whiteley married Michael B. Runyan; their son Robert Noah Runyan married Mary Elizabeth Darling; their son Lawrence Everett Runyan married Mary Fern Newby. Lawrence and Fern were my maternal grandparents. 

This funeral card was a very lucky eBay find for me just two weeks ago!

Spiceland Friends Church

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