Will of James Green of Loudon County, Virginia 1788

There follows a transcription from a digital image of the will on the ancestry website. Paragraph breaks and bold text have been added for ease of reading and are not present in the original image.^[1]

“In the name of God amen, the twenty third day of April & the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & eighty eight, I James Green of Loudoun County in the state of Virginia, being very sick & weak in body but of perfect mind & memory thanks be to god, therefore calling to mind the mortality of my Body & knowing that all men by appointment must die, do make & ordain this my last Will and testament that is to say principally &l first of all I give & recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave it & my body to the Earth, to be buried in Decent Christian Burial at the discretion of my Executors, not Doubting the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by Almighty Power of God, and as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this life, I give devise and dispose of the same in the following manner of form.

First I leave to my beloved wife Frances the full possession & Enjoyment (during her life) of my Plantations Houses & negroes, with all my movable Effects, Stock & Cattle also all my open accounts Bonds Debts or other property belonging to me to be peaceably & Entirley Enjoyed by her, & my three younger children,

[page break] (200) That is my two sons William & Fielding and my youngest Daughter Frances whom I wish should continue with her Mother during her life. I also constitute & appoint my wife Frances, to be sole and principal Executrix, during her life and at her decease, then the whole of my effects and property to be Equitably & Equally divided among all my children in the most Exact & Just manner,

I also devise that my son Thomas may continue with his mother as long as it is convenient to them both,

to my son George I leave one shilling, to my son in law Elihu Harding and his children by my daughter Ann I also cut off with one shilling, the remainder of my property to be Disposed of as above mentioned Ex., during my wife Frances living as a widow, But in case she shall marry another, then my entire property and Effects to be Divided in this manner

my wife Frances, to a third part of all my Estate & property, and the remainder to be Equally Divided between my children namely my son Gerrard Green, my sons Thomas, William & Fielding, also my Daughters Elizabeth Shelton, Mary Bennett, Patty Saunder, & my youngest Daughter Frances Green, each of the aforementioned children to have and Equal part or share of all my worldly Estate & property Whatever, also I do hereby Entirely revoke & Disannul all every other former Testaments, and wills, legacies & bequests or Executors, by me any ways before named, therefore I ratify & confirm, this to be my last Will and testament - In witness whereof Inhave hereunto set my hand & seal this 23rd day of April Anno 1788”

James Green his mark

witnesses: William Fox J R[?] Borbridge

Proved December the 12th 1796

Name: James Green

Gender: Male

Residence Date: Abt 1788

Residence Place: Loudoun County, Virginia

Will Date: 23 Apr 1788

Probate Place: Loudoun, Virginia, USA

Item Description: Will Books, Vol C-E, 1783-1797

A challenge to the Will

From a note on ancestry left by ancestry member STAMPER52* Posted 01 Feb 2010

James Green's will [Loudoun County VA Will Book E, pp 337-40 ... written in 1788 and probated at his death in 1796] establishes that he had a daughter named Ann who married Elizu Harding, and that the couple had issue. James Green left "one shilling to my son-in-law Elizu Harding and his children by my daughter Ann, also cut off with one shilling."

In 1804, Elisu Harding and Ann Green Harding filed a lawsuit in Fleming County, KY (Fleming Co. Lawsuits; File 209)* against James Green's heirs, namely his widow Frances and James' other children. The Hardings contested the will, contending that it was fraudulent; even if not fraudulent, they contended it was invalid because only one witness at the writing of the will, William Fox, was present when the will was presented and proved in Loudoun County Court. They also challenged the legality of the widow's transporting negro slaves from Virginia to Kentucky. There is an implication in the lawsuit that the Hardings believed James Green to own land as well as slaves and personal property. James' son George was not party to this suit since -- according to the lawsuit -- he was deceased by 1804. Curiously, since he was also disinherited in the will, George's widow Chloe, and his daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah, seem to be named as defendants.

In response to the lawsuit, Frances Green stated that Ann Green, who married Elizu Harding, had been "dead sometime" before James wrote his will in 1788; "and that he [James] had helped him & her considerably & that he the said Hardin [sic] kept moving about until he had spent every thing he had almost, and she will remember after he [James] got his health perfectly to have asked him to alter his will, and give him some present, but he refused and said he would not take from his own children & give to him to spend or words to that effect,". The other defendants also swore that Ann had been dead for a long time. Oddly, however, the lawsuit appears to have been filed in the names of both Ann and Elizu Harding. Perhaps, Elizu was trying to fraudulently present Ann as still living hoping that a frontier court would not find him out. Or perhaps the arcane dialect of the lawsuit has been misunderstood by present day family historians. Whatever - Harding apparently was unsuccessful in his lawsuit and the will stood.

*I am indebted to James Dempsey, Green Family historian, who has spent years researching the Green Family genealogy and the 1804 lawsuit in particular. The original records regarding the lawsuit can be found in Fleming Co. KY Lawsuits, File 209. This report has been prepared by Georgia Green Stamper, January 31, 2010.

Sources

↑ image Will Books, 1757-1879 ; Indexes, 1757-1949; Author: Virginia. County Court (Loudoun County); Probate Place: Loudoun, Virginia

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