Tax Man Cometh

It’s tax season again. I’m betting that unless one has a child applying for a college scholarship, most people haven’t started their taxes yet. I know I haven’t. I’d rather be spending my time researching.

So why was I buried in tax information yesterday? Well, I was going back thru some old research in pre 1800 tax lists for Madison County, Kentucky. I’ve looked at the tax information before, but didn’t have a good understanding of the various families to be able to identify the people listed.

Between 1787 and 1796, the following Crawford households are found in Madison County, Kentucky:

• Mary Crawford (found 1787-1792)
• James Crawford (found 1787-1796)
• William Crawford (found (1787-1796)
• James Crawford – appears in 1792
• Alexander Crawford – appears in 1792
• John Crawford – appears in 1795
• William Crawford Jr – appears in 1795
• Edward Crawford — appears in 1795 –  under a different commissioner’s list

Everyone but Edward Crawford is missing in the 1797 list. This may be due to the creation of Garrard County, KY from part of Madison and part of Lincoln County.

So are any of these my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854)? If I have his birth year correct, then he would not have turned 21 until 1793. So are any of these possibly his parent or sibling?

The Mary Crawford in these tax lists is likely the same Mary Crawford that married Alexander Moore. She may be the mother of James Crawford (1772-1854). This is the same Mary Crawford who purchased land from Richard Cave.  (Mary Crawford – wife of Alexander Moore)

1787 Madison County Kentcuky Tax list image 10 on Family Search film 8126

1787 Madison County Kentucky Tax list image 11 on Family Search film 8126

In terms of the James Crawford in the 1787 list, he is shows as having land on Paint Lick  that was purchased from Thos L Kennedy in 1796.

1796 Madison County Kentucky Tax List image 333 on Family Search film 8126

I found the deed for this land transaction in Lincoln County Kentucky Deeds, Vol. A page 219. In 1812, James Crawford and Rebecca his wife of County of Jefferson, Territory of Indiana sold 150 acres of that land back to Thomas Kennedy. (Garrard County Kentucky Deeds, Book D, p309)  Thus, I believe the James Crawford in the 1787-1796 tax lists to be the James Crawford who was married to Rebecca Anderson.

When it comes to William, I haven’t been able to locate his purchase of 180 acres on Paint Lick that was part of the John Kennedy grant. Thus, I haven’t been able to use land transactions to identify his wife.

Other researchers believe that James Crawford was the son of James and Margery Crawford and grandson of Col. John Crawford. James and Margery had son named William. Researchers have placed this William Crawford in this area of Kentucky prior to his migration to Ste. Genevieve in the Louisiana Territory. Thus, the William in these early tax lists could be the brother of James Crawford. These same researchers believe that Mary is the widowed sister-in-law of James and William. I need more documentation to support this relationship, but my current theory is that James and William are brothers.

So, who are the ‘newcomers’ [James and Alexander] to the list in 1792?

1792 Madison County Kentucky Tax List image 132 on Family Search film 8126

Based on the possessions, James might have just turned 21, but Alexander is likely older. Could James be the son of Mary, James or William? William did have a son named James, but my current knowledge of the family indicates he was born in 1782 making him too young. James also had a son named James who was born in 1790. Thus, he is also too young. Thus the James that appears in 1792 is likely the son of Mary. A second study of the 1792 list shows the same date for Mary and the James with 2 horses and different dates for William and James (with 9 horses).

In terms of Alexander’s identity, I believe he is the Alexander Crawford that married Margaret McElwee in Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1788. However, I need to collect more records for him to verify that these are the same man. I don’t know how Alexander fits with Mary, James and William. Other researchers believe he descends from Alexander Crawford and Mary McPheeters. That is possible since their descendants are found throughout early Kentucky.

A similar situation occurs in 1795 with the addition of John, William Jr and Edward.

1795 Tax List Madison County Kentucky image 210 on Family Search film 8126

Since Edward’s listing occurs in a different district than James and William, I don’t believe he is the son of Mary, James or William. Again James‘ sons are too young to appear on this tax list.

Assuming this William is the brother of James, he has two sons that could appear on the 1795 tax list: William (b about 1771) and John (b about 1774). The tax commissioner visited both Williams on the 23rd of May but visited John on the 25th of April.

A John Crawford married Sarah McAlester in August of 1794 in Madison County, Kentucky. A check of the tax list for McAlesters shows a Sarah McAlester. The date of her visit was the 25th of April. This would suggest that the Sarah McAlester of the tax list may be the mother of the Sarah McAlester married to John Crawford and that they were living near each other.

So what have I proven? Absolutely nothing! I need more documentation.

However, I do believe I have circumstantial evidence for the following relationships:

• Mary Crawford, James Crawford and William Crawford are somehow related.
• James Crawford of the 1792 listing may be the son of Mary Crawford
• John Crawford and William Crawford may be the sons of William Crawford
• John Crawford‘s wife may be the daughter of Sarah McAlester

I still need to do the same analysis with tax lists from Lincoln County, Kentucky and possibly Garrard and Barren counties.

---

Below are my notes from viewing these tax lists:

Madison County, Kentucky
Tax Books, 1787-1874

Tax books 1787-1797, 1799-1807
Film 8126
DGS 7834478

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/156105?availability=Family%20History%20Library

1787
image 7
List of taxable property within the district of Michael McNeely
Commissioner in the county of Madison for the year 1787
Image 10
July 9 1787 Crawford (or Cranford) Mary – 3 horses, 11 cattle
July 9, 1787 Cooley, William – Willm Cooley – 4 hourses 7 cattle
July 9, 1787 Clarke John John Clarke – 4 horses, 4 cattle
July 11, 1787 Care, James
July 11, 1787 Crawford James – Jas Crwford – 6 horses 15 cattle
July 11, 1787 Coughron Dinnis

Image 11
July 17, 1787 Crawford Willm Wm Crawford 6 horses 8 cattle
NO Duggins
NO Douglas
Image 23 – No Sellers

People recorded on July 9 (neighbors of Mary)
Cooley, William
Clarke, John
McClure William
Miller George
McCarley Jeremiah
Poe William
Stephens Jehu
Yocum John

People recorded on July 11 (neighbors of James)
Brown, Joseph
Brank Robt
Care James
Coughron Dinnis
Forkner THos
French James
Gordon Saml
Hix John
Kennedy Thomas
Kennedy John
Kennedy J L
Nickelson James
Ross Hugh
Smith James
Winters Fred
Wallace Michl

People recorded on July 17 (neighbors of William)
Kilpatrick Hugh
McDowell Alex
Miller Nancy
Runnolds Ricd
Rice David

List of Taxable Property within the district of John Miller, Commissioner in the county of
Madison for the year 1787

image 33
A book for the solicitor
Richmond Sept 8 1787
NO Crawford

image 53
A book containing a list of taxable property in one of the district
layed of by Court in Madison
County for Andw Kennedy
a commissioner in the year 1787

1788
image 57
A list of taxable property within the district of Robert Rode?
County of Madison for year 1788

C’s mostly illegible

image 61
list of taxable property within the district of Michael McNeeley
Commissioner in the county of Madison for the year 1788

Image 63
March 22 Crawford William– 1 white male taxable – 6 horses
March 22 Crawford James – 1 white male taxable – 5 horses
March 21 Crawford Mary – 2 horses

Image 73
Madison County
1789

A list of tithables and taxa
ble property in the district of Aaron
Lewis Commission in the County of
Madison District of Kentucky
for the year 1789

NO Crawford
No DUGGINS
NO Sellers

Image 81
List of taxable property in the district of Michael McNeeley
Commissionery in the County of Madison for theyear 1789

Image 82
Crawford Mary – number of white tithable > 16 — ONE – 3 horses
Crawford James – 1 white tithable >16 – 7 horses
Crawford William – 1 white tithable > 16 – 4 horses
Duggan William – 1 white tithable > 16

Mary Crawford also on image 90

Kennedy’s are in this set of tax records, but the Crawfords are missing

Image 99
Madison County 1790

Image 110
John Pitman Return
for 1790

Image 111
Madison County 1791

Image 123
Crawford William 2 (heading illegible – but likely 2 thitheables) — 5 (likely horses)
Crawford James – 1 (likely titheable) – 7 (likely horses)
Crawford Mary – 1 (likely titheable) – 3 (likely horses) — note on right side of page

Image 125
Maxwell Bezleel
Moore ALexander

Image 126
Sellers, Wm – 1 (likely tithable) – 3 (likely horses)

image 129
Madison County 1792

Image 132
17th – Crawford William – 1 male >21; 2 males 16-21; 13 horses; 16 cattle; 180 acres
3rd – Crawford Mary — 1 male 16-21; 4 horses; 10 cattle; 100 acres
3rd – Crawford James – 1 male > 21; 2 horses – 1 cattle
4th – Crawford James TS – 1 male > 21; 9 horses; 25 cattle; 150 acres
Image 133
6th – Crawford Alexander – 1 male >21; 1 horse; 9 cattle; 64 acres

image 157
1793

Image 161
Dark / mostly illegible
there is a Crawford

No Alexander Moore on image 165

image 170
1794
image 174 — very faint
Crawford, Evan ????

Image 197
Crawford, James 1 male >21, 8 horses – 15 cattle – 146 acres
Crawford, James 1 male >21, 1 horse, 3 cattle
Crawford, Alexander, 1 male >21, 2 horses, 5 cattle
Crawford, William, 1 male >21, 3 males 16-21, 13 horses, 20 cattle
Duggin, William, 1 male >21, 1 horse, 6 cattle

Image 206
Madison County 1795
Image 210
Crawford James – 1 male >21; 5 horses; 17 cattle; 146 acres
Image 211
Crawford John – 1 male > 21, 2 horses, 6 cattle
Crawford William Jr – 1 male > 21; 2 horses; 6 cattle
Crawford William Sr – 1 male > 21; 1 male 16-21; 12 horses; 28 cattle; 180 acres

Image 212
Duggins, William – 1 male > 21; 2 horses; 8 cattle
Duggins, Daniel – 1 male >21

Image 218
Moore Alexander – 1 male >21; 3 horses; 3 cattle

Image 257
Crawford Edward – 1 male >21, 2 horses; 3 cattle

Image 266
1796
Image 271
Crawford Edwd

Image 333
Crawford James – 1216 acres Paint Lick Madison County Thos L Kennedy Grant; 1 male >21; 1 male 16-21; 6 horses; 25 cattle [200 Acres – James/Rebecca]
Crawford William – 1 male >21; 2 horses; 6 cattle
Crawford, William – 180 acres paint Lick, Madison county; John Kennedy grant; 1 male >21; 1 male 16-21; 7 horses; 25 cattle
Crawford, John – 1 male >21; 1 horse; 13 cattle

Image 334
Duggins, Alexander – 1 male >21; 1 horse
Duggins, David- 1 male > 21; 1 horse; 2 cattle
Duggins Benjamin – 1 male > 21; 1 horse
Duggins Daniel 45 acres Sugar Creek Madison County – 1 male > 21; 1 horse; 1 cattle
Duggins William 50 acres Sugar Creek Madison County – 1 male > 21; 2 horses; 6 cattle

Image 340
Moore Alexander – 50 acres Paint Lick Madison County ; 1 male >21; 2 horses; 7 cattle

Image 353
1797

Image 406 – Image Downloaded
Crawford Edwd – 1 male > 21; 3 horses

image 422
1798
image 423
1799

Image 458
Madison County 1800

Image 492
NO Crawfords
but Kennedy and Maxwell families in this group

Quit at image 538
Madison County 1801

Marriage Bond Mystery

Do you have documents in your genealogy files with incomplete citations. Congratulations if your answer was no!

Unfortunately, I have documents with partial citations. One set of those documents is four marriage bonds involving Crawford family members from Kentucky in the 1790s.

• Mary Crawford consent to marry James Sellers given by Rebekah Crawford on 19 Dec 1791 in Lincoln County, Kentucky witnessed by James Crawford and Wm Sellers
• Bond of James Crawford and Nathan Douglas for the marriage of James Crawford to Martha Night on 12 Mar 1793 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Consent for the marriage was given by John Goodpastor and witnessed by James Sellers and Samuel Sellers
• Consent of Rebekah Crawford for Sarah Crawford to marry William Sellers on 2 Feb 1796 in Lincoln County, KY witnessed by James Crawford and James Sellers
• Bond by James Crawford and James Sellers for the marriage of James Crawford and Sally Duggins on 12 Sept 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky

I was able to locate the two Crawford-Sellers bonds thru Family Search. They are found in the Loose papers, files 1-6 1781-1809 (film #102262) in the Marriage Records, 1781-1961 collection for Lincoln County, Kentucky on Family Search thru a search of the index for Crawford.

On the off chance that the bond for James and Martha was missed, I scanned thru the entire roll of loose papers — and still didn’t find it. I was able to find verification that the record existed at one time in the set of records titled, “Extract” in the Marriage Records, 1781-1961 collection for Lincoln County, Kentucky.

I had a similar experience trying to locate the bond for James Crawford and Sally Duggins. I located the following in the Index 1797-1853 (DGS 004260348) set of records in the Marriages, 1797-1954 collection for Garrard County, KY.

Thus, I have two marriage bonds and little evidence of where they came from.

Bond for James Crawford and Martha Night

Bond for James Crawford and Sally Duggins

 

So, the question of the day: Where did I get copies of these two marriage bonds?

Lesson of the day: Create a solid citation for each and every source!

 

 

 

 

Perspective

Does your genealogy have a brick wall FAN club that involves several branches of the surname along with lots of same name issues? Well, the parents of my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854) has such a FAN club.

While working with some other researchers from the FAN club, but unfortunately not my line, I created a ‘traditional’ time line outlining the information I had on the individuals in the FAN club.

This timeline included all of the facts for each individual in the time line. Thus, it is long. I used color coding to identify various lines and counties.

Even though the data is here, this form of timeline hasn’t helped me advance my research.

Yesterday, I started a different version of a time line. This timeline has the different family groups across the top and the year down the side. In the intersecting cell, I’m recording brief info about the event and the county/state where they lived. I’m using color coding for the locations.

For this timeline, I limited the people to the following:

• two James Crawfords of Preble County (James/Sally and James/Martha)
• their suspected mothers: Rebecca Crawford and Mary Crawford (md Moore)
• suspected uncles of one of the James Crawfords: James/Rebecca and William/Elizabeth
• suspected siblings: Sarah Crawford (William Sellers) and Mary Crawford (James Sellers)
• step-sons of my ancestor: Henry Duggins and William Duggins
• daughter of my ancestor: Polly Crawford md John Stoner

By looking at the information in this format, I’ve been able to track the land transactions. This has allowed me to quickly see which tracts of land only had one transaction (purchase or sell), allowing me to look for the other transaction.  I’m also seeing other ‘holes’ in my research of these people. Hopefully, as I fill in those ‘holes’, I will find records tying these Crawford families together.

I’m thankful I tried looking at the information from a different perspective!

 

 

Little Clues

Do you ever go back to a source you’ve likely used before and discover a very tiny tidbit of information that changes one of your assumptions about an ancestor. Well, I did last night. I was browsing the Internet for Madison County, Kentucky resources while watching the webinar, Trails of Daniel Boone and Other Western Travelers by J. Mark Lowe.

I came across the book, Glimpses of Historic Madison County, Kentucky on Internet Archive. When I searched the contents of the book for Crawford, I found a paragraph about Rev. James Crawford.

The Presbyterian Church

The first Presbyterian Church in the county was organized by
Rev. James Crawford about 1790 at Round Top, six miles from
Richmond, and was known as the Silver Creek Presbyterian Church.
Seven years later this group united with the Paint Lick Church and
one minister served both congregations. There was a schism in the
Presbyterian as well as practically all other local churches in the
early 1800’s as a result of the great religious revival sweeping Ken-
tucky at that time. Many new doctrines were being preached, and
large numbers of those who were once thought to be dependable
followers of the Calvinistic faith, succumbed to the new teachings.
Even the pastor of the above church departed from the Presbyterian
doctrines, became a strong advocate of the bodily exercises often
experienced during the revival and finally became a devout mem-
ber of the Shaker colony, which established itself in a neighboring county
during that period.

At this time, I don’t know which James Crawford in the Lincoln-Madison-Garrard area of Kentucky in the 1790s this is referring to. However, this short piece contains several hints that may prove useful.

• This isn’t referring to the Rev. James Crawford of the Lexington area since he didn’t leave the Presbyterian church.
• About 1790, Rev. James Crawford served at Silver Creek Presbyterian Church at Round Top in Madison County, KY
• About 1797, Rev. James Crawford also served the Paint Lick Church in Garrard County, KY
• Sometime after 1800, Rev. James Crawford left the Presbyterian church and joined a Shaker colony [in a neighboring county]

So, could this Rev. James Crawford be one of the James Crawfords I have been researching? Yes, but it could also be another James Crawford. I will have to follow up on these clues to try and figure out who he is.

Research Logs

Do you have one task that ‘genealogy experts’ recommend that you just don’t seem to be able to tackle? For me, that tends to be a research log.

Even though I have a ‘research log’ from my early days of research, I haven’t been consistent with keeping that log — especially with Internet searching. And, I really could use a comprehensive research log now!

I have the opportunity to apply for a ‘brick wall’ consultation at the upcoming Topeka Genealogical Society conference in April. As part of that application, I need to submit a list of sources already checked. With forty years of research and a lot of same name issues, I could really use a complete research log!

For this application, I am going to submit James Crawford (1772-1854) of Preble County, Ohio as my brick wall ancestor. James married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky before migrating to Ohio by the early 1800s. The research question I would like assistance with is “Who is James Crawford’s father?”

Seems simple enough, right. Unfortunately, there are a lot of same name issues with researching this ancestor.

1. Next door neighbor in Preble County, Ohio was James Crawford (1770-1833) who married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County, KY. This James Crawford migrated from Preble County, OH to Warren County, IN where he died. Also migrating to Warren County, IN from Preble County, OH at about the same time was Nelson G. Crawford, the son of James and Sally (Smith Duggins) Crawford.
2. There is a third James Crawford (1758-1836) living in Madison and Garrard counties in Kentucky prior to 1800. This James Crawford was married to Rebecca Anderson and migrated to Jennings County, IN and then to Jefferson County, IN.
3. Garrard County KY histories refer to a Rev. James Crawford. There was a Rev. James Crawford (1752/3 – 1803) at Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church in Fayette County, KY. Rev. James Crawford was married to Rebecca McPheeters.
4. DAR applications by descendants of James Crawford and Rebecca Anderson appear to have records mixed up with a James Crawford (1757-1836) who resided in Fleming County, KY. This James Crawford was married to Sarah Vansant.

So, I not only need to identify sources I’ve checked for James and Sally (Duggins) Crawford, but also sources I’ve checked for all of these other James Crawfords.

To start re-creating such a research log, I used RootsMagic to print an individual summary report, complete with bibliography for each of these James Crawfords. I then copied the bibliography entries into Notepad where I could remove the leading punctuation and clean up any other errors.

From Notepad, I copied the entries into Excel. Since there were blank lines between each bibliography entry, those blank lines copied over to Excel. To eliminate the blank lines, I sorted by the bibliography column. This pushed all of the blank lines to the bottom of the list.

Unfortunately, that only gets sources that I’ve cited in RootsMagic. I had drawers full of research that would need to be added to this list of sources used. Fortunately, I have scanned most of that research. Unfortunately, I named the scanned files with the Dollarhide code I used to file the paperwork.

Since the code was part of my citations in Master Genealogist, I can find the paperwork when working from a source in my program. However, these file names don’t tell me where I got the information in each of those files. When I open the file, it is usually a handwritten document (remember my research is up to 40 years old).

Unfortunately, I don’t have a full citation on these old notes. However, I usually have a fairly accurate title. When I started working my way thru my Ohio notes, I was just Googling the title. Part way thru, I realized that I could probably find the information faster using WorldCat.

In some cases, I didn’t have enough of the title to find it via WorldCat. In those situations, I used the FamilySearch catalog and searched for the place associated with the resource. Then I drilled down to the type of information (history, tax, deeds, probate, etc.).

So far, I’ve been able to find the bibliographic information thru either WorldCat or FamilySearch. This bibliography information was added to my Excel spreadsheet along with the filing code.

In the process, I also took the opportunity to change the file name so that it included an abbreviated version of the title of the resource.

In some cases, these files were actual copies of records. In those cases, I changed the file name to indicate the type and source of the record.

Yesterday, I managed to make it thru the process of identifying and renaming my Ohio files for Crawford. However, I still need to do my Kentucky files and my Virginia files. Since I have done some FAN club research, I should also add the files for Duggins and Sellers along with the bibliographies for the females appearing on the early Kentucky tax lists: Rebecca Crawford and Mary Crawford.

Lesson learned:

Use better file names

Keep a research log!

 

 

 

Time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Saturday Night 

Time for more Genealogy Fun! 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  What was your best research achievement in 2018?  Tell us – show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph.  Brag a bit!  You’ve earned it!

2)  We all have elusive ancestors.  What research problem do you want to work on in 2019?  Tell us where you want to research and what you hope to find.

Well, it is actually Sunday afternoon, but I thought I’d accept the challenge.

I think my best research achievement for 2018 would be finding evidence to support a story my grandmother Briles told me about her grandfather. According to my grandmother, her grandfather got involved in a creamery and ‘lost his shirt’.  I wrote about finding newspaper articles about a court case referred to as the creamery mess  involving George Mentzer in my previous blog, Creamery Mess.

Upon further research, I found quite a few newspaper articles about the Yates Center Creamery. I also found two court transcripts related to the case. Those newspapers articles and the court transcripts were transcribed in my blog post, Creamery Mess Part 2.

Shortly after writing those blogs, I was able to make a research trip to Woodson County, Kansas. During that trip, I visited with the clerk of courts. It was from that visit that I obtained some of the court case file. I haven’t transcribed the case file (yet), but I found it interesting that George Mentzer’s sons, J. F. Mentzer and C. O. Mentzer were included in the list of defendants.

So what would I like to find in 2019? I’d love to break thru one of my brick walls. Since most of my brick walls involve dead ends in Kentucky, I need to learn more about early Kentucky records. Based on my current research, I believe a lot of those Kentucky lines go back to Virginia. Thus, I also need to learn more about Virginia records, especially the collections of the Virginia Historical Society.

While it sounds like I should be making a research trip to Kentucky or Virginia, I was thinking that I needed to go to the Wisconsin Historical Society to use the Draper Manuscript Collection. This collection of papers may hold the key to several of my Kentucky lines: Crawford, Currey, Thompson, Bland, or Burke. Thus, my immediate goal needs to be to not only learn more about this collection but to use any available finding aids in preparation for such a trip.

Looks like I have some prep work to do and travel plans to make! Where will your 2019 goals take you?

Thompson Will

Last week, I stumbled upon a hint that the father of my ancestor, John B Thompson, was David Thompson of Barren County, KY. Following that hint, I found the will of a David Thompson in Barren county, KY. Among his children was a John B. Thompson.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of clues in the will that suggested that the John B Thompson of the will was not my ancestor.

• My ancestor was not living in Barren County, KY at the time and I currently have no record placing him in Barren County, KY
• The list of children did not include where they lived. For example, it did not say John B Thompson of Warrick County, IN.
• John B Thompson was named as one of the executors.

Trying to prove/disprove a link between my John B. Thompson and David Thompson of Barren County, KY, I did further research on the David Thompson family. I found a marriage record for David Thompson and Mary V Waller in the Virginia Marriages 1740-1850 database on Ancestry.

When I searched public member trees for a John Thompson with parents David Thompson and Mary Waller, I found several trees. Most of those trees had an 1850 census record for John B Thompson in Barren County, KY attached as a source. Since I have census records placing my John B. Thompson in Wapello county in 1850 and 1856, I don’t believe these are the same men.

I am concluding that the will for David Thompson of Barren County, KY is NOT for my ancestor. Below is a transcription of that will.

Barren County, Kentucky
Will Records, 1828-1856, Vol. 3
Image 63 of 249

Page 98

In the name of God amen I David Thompson of the County of Barren State of Ky having some afflictions in body of a sound perfect mind and memory thanks be to the Almighty God for the same knowing that it appointed for all men to die wishing to dispose of my worldly property that God has been pleased to bless me with do make & publish this my last will & testament in manner & form following
First, I give and bequeth to by beloved wife Mary V Thompson all my property I am in possession of or may be willed or devised to me, any way whatever all my tract of land whereon I now live with all the appurtenances there unto belonging all my negroes horses and stock of every description with my farming utensils house hold kitchen furniture and should there be any thing that is not here named I give and bequith the same and what is above named to my beloved wife during her natural life
2nd after my death I wish my wife to pay all my just debts out of the above named property and to give to the two children now living with us namely Jane Thompson and Nathan Thompson to be equal with those that has had the largest portion also all those that are married make them equal one with another according to her best judgement and what time she pleases or can conveniently share the property
3rdly where as I have a lawful claim to a certain piece or parcel of land whereon my son Wm Thompson now lives for which I have a title bond from Isaac Mize and when said right are made to me from sd Mize I intend to make general warranty deed to my son William and have recd full value of my son William for said land should I depart this life before said deed is made to said William my executor or executrix shall make said deed to said William Thompson and the land named in this third item is in no wise considered any part of his portion as I have received full value.
4th and lastly after the death of my wife it is my wish and desire all the residue of my property shall be equally divided among all my children namely William W Thompson Elizabeth G Wallis John B Thompson James G Thompson Lewis Thompson Jane Thompson Nathan Thompson should either of my children die without lawful issue their part shall revert back tot he rest of my children and their lawful representatives. I also constitute and appoint Mary V Thompson my beloved wife John B Thompson & Lewis Thompson my sole executrix and Executors to this my last will and testament. In testimone whereof I have hereunto set my hand seal this seventh day of May one thousand eight hundred and thirty five
David Thompson
signed sealed published & delivered by the above named David Thompson to be his last will & testament in the presence of us. Who at his request in his presents have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses to the same
Geo Shirly
Jas Reas
Jos R Compton
Abner H Snow

Kentucky, Barren. Will Records, 1828-1856. Film #004818753. David Thompson, 7 May 1835 vol. 3: page 98; digital images, FamilySearch http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online September 2018.