Spoken will of Hosea Tapley

Hosea Tapley orally left land to sons John Pryor Tapley and Hosea Tapley and a potential unborn son; Victory Rankin attested his wishes.

Kind of paper

Spoken will

Testator

Hosea Tapley (printed HOSEA TAPLEY)

A second reading

Mark Chilton’s index of the will books gives the date as 22 March 1770. Check the will book to settle it.

Family named

John Pryor Tapley (son); Hosea Tapley (son)

Witnesses

Victory Rankin (made oath); John Pryor

Land

land

Reading note: Died 21 March 1770; affidavit made 22 March 1770. Neither is explicitly the date the oral will was made; date_written left blank.

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 125.
• 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).