Will of William Laws

William Laws left a Flat River plantation to Frances and named children and sister Elizabeth.

Kind of paper

Will

Testator

William Laws (printed WILLIAM LAWS)

Dated

16 August 1816

Proved

August 1817 court

Family named

Frances (wife); Jonathan Laws (son); James Laws (son); George Laws (my deceased son; deceased); Jinney Waller (daughter); Polly Ferguson (daughter); Nancy Laws (daughter); Rebecca Laws (daughter); Sally Laws (daughter); Margaret Laws (daughter); Alsey Laws (daughter); Frances Laws (daughter); David Laws (my grandson, son of my deceased son George Laws); Charles Laws (my grandson); Jemima Umstead (granddaughter); Elizabeth Laws (sister); Margaret Laws (my daughter-in-law); Elisha Umstead (son-in-law)

Executors

Thomas D. Bennehan (Worthy friends); William Roberts, Sr. (Worthy friends); Jonathan Laws (my son)

Witnesses

Mark Veazey; William Veazey

Land

plantation on Flat River; land lying in Orange and Granville; the tract of land on which my daughter-in-law Margaret Laws now lives

Money and goods

$5

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 D, page 512.
• Abstract: Ruth Herndon Shields, Abstracts of Wills Recorded in Orange County, North Carolina, 1800–1850 (1958), page 77.
• 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 80002, “Record of Wills, 1794–1822, Vols. C, D” (State Archives film).