Will of John Umstead

John Umstead left land to Morgan Hart and John Umstead Kirkland and freed three enslaved people: Dicey and her two unnamed children.

Kind of paper

Will

Testator

John Umstead (printed JOHN UMSTEAD)

Dated

25 June 1829

Proved

May 1829 court

A second reading

As the abstract prints them, the will was proved before it was dated, so one of the dates is wrong. Check the will book to settle it.

Also left something

Morgan Hart; John Umstead Kirkland (friend)

Executors

Catlett Campbell; Thomas D. Bennehan

Witnesses

James Webb; Wil Kirkland; Hugh Waddell

Enslaved people named

• Dicey (freed by this paper)

Enslaved people not named

Her two children

In the records of enslaved people

• Dicey (this paper)
• Cynthia, Dandridge, Frank, John, Nelly, Mary, Dicey, William, Margaret, Ferrebee, Ben, Amy, Henderson, Annica (a record that may concern the same person; a shared first name alone does not show that)

Land

home plantation where I now reside; land on Obion River in State of Tennessee

Places

Obion River; State of Tennessee

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 E, page 182.
• Abstract: Ruth Herndon Shields, Abstracts of Wills Recorded in Orange County, North Carolina, 1800–1850 (1958), page 131.
• 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 80003, “Record of Wills, 1822–1851, Vols. E, F” (State Archives film).