- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 1
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 2
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 3
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 4
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 5
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 6
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 7
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – page 8
- Captain Thomas Hemphill’s Will – The Last Page
This is the eighth installment in a series of nine posts in which I transcribe the will of my Revolutionary War ancestor, Captain Thomas Hemphill. In the first post, we learned that Captain Thomas’ will was contested by two of his children and a son-in-law, and that the date usually seen for his death may be wrong. The copy of the contested will as it was transcribed into the court records began on page 2. Pages three and four continued the will copy and began to explain the reasons that the will was contested. Pages 5, 6, and 7 continued the court testimony 1 .
Transcript
mention in his will the property he had given to his children
Henry told him it was not necessary. He the testator then
observed that he already given his daughter Polly ninety
five or six acres of land over that he wished to give to
Rebecca about the same quantity which with what he
had given to Polly made one entire tract. He said
he intended to give to his son Thomas the tract on which he
lived and that he had some difficulty in disposing
of his land in Georgia as it was of two great value
to give to one. He then mentioned how he intended to
dispose of his personal property. In the paper writing
offered as his will the land described was given to
Rebecca and the plantation on which he lived was
devised to Thomas. It was argued for the caveators that
this was not proof of a valid will under our statute. That
his mental and bodily weakness and loss of Sight had disable
led him from knowing whether the writing was his will
or not and having to depend on the witness for that know
ledge, they should have been able to Swear that it was read
to him and ready truly and fairly. That Logan being acknowl
edged by those who had an interest in the will to have
made the will and not Hemphill the other witness ought
to have proved that the will was fairly read. That a
loss of Sight or other physical incapacity to read the will
required that both witnesses Should have heard it read
and explained to him so that no one of them could have
imposed on him if desired to do so or in other words
there must be a mental presence proved by both witnesses
which to a blind man could only be affected by reading
to him. And this must be done at the execution of the
will The court charged the Jury that if the testator
had mind sufficient to dispose of his property rationally
and understandingly, the Law would permit him to make
a will of it, otherwise if he had been rendered from old age
Notes on page 8
No new genealogical information was presented on this page, but it does point to the crux of the court case. Apparently Captain Thomas had already given property to some of his children and he wanted to balance out those gifts in his will. The attorney for the plaintiffs continued to argue that Captain Thomas either did not have the capacity to make a will or that he was duped into signing a false will due to his blindness.
Frankly, this all sounds like a lot of hooey to me. I can’t wait to see the disposition of the case. Check back next Monday to see how this all plays out.
- Burke County Original Wills, Thomas Hemphill (c1824); box no. C.R. 016.801.1, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, Thomas Hemphill, 1824. ↩