Will of Robert Donaldson

Robert Donaldson named wife Hannah and children, left Mary two shillings, and appointed Hannah and Wm Ray executors with Thomas Donaldson overseeing them.

Kind of paper

Will

Testator

Robert Donaldson (printed ROBERT DONALDSON)

Dated

20 March 1770

Proved

April 1770 court

Family named

Hannah (wife); Thomas (son; married); Robert (son); Margaret (daughter; wife of William Ray); Mary (undutiful daughter); Hannah (I allow equal shares); Elizabeth (I allow equal shares); Jean (I allow equal shares); Ritteren (?) (I allow equal shares); Sarah (I allow equal shares); William Ray (wife of)

Executors

Hannah (wife); Wm Ray

Witnesses

Honor Nicks; Elizabeth Thomas; Thomas Douglass

Money and goods

2 shillings

Also named

Thomas Donaldson (Overseer)

Reading note: Ritteren (?) uncertain. Equal-share list includes Robert already named as son; recorded once as son. Thomas Donaldson surname inserted above line.

Names and places are given as the abstract writes them, spelling and all. This record has not been checked against the will book.

Where to find it

• Orange County Will Book A, page 106.
• Abstract: Ruth Herndon Shields, Abstracts of Wills Recorded 1752 through 1800 in Orange County, North Carolina, Will Books A, B and C (Davie Poplar Chapter NSDAR, revised edition 1966).
• Also listed in Mark Chilton, “Wills Recorded in Orange County, NC 1756–1893” (Wandering through the NC Piedmont, 2019), an index of the will books with references to the court minutes.
• Microfilm at the Orange County Public Library, Wall Local History Collection: reel 80001, “Record of Wills, 1752–1795, Vols. A, B” (State Archives film).