LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT ABSTRACTS
MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE 1821-1854
By Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
COPYRIGHT, Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith, 1995

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MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE COUNTY COURT MINUTE BOOK FOUR

page 271. LEWIS NEWSOM appealed to county court "on account of meritorious services rendered & various good qualities attending them, be emancipated & forever set free" the Negroes: ARCHY a man of dark complexion about 50 yrs old, CELIA a woman, his sister, about 54 yrs old and her two children ISRAEL a boy of dark complexion about 18 yrs old and SYNA a mulatto girl about 14 yrs old. The court ruled that the cause was just, according to state laws, hence these persons were freed and given fifteen days to depart from the State of Tennessee. August 3, 1835.

Persons whose wills were admitted to probate in the Madison County, Tennessee county court but which were not recorded and the originals are not extant:
ANNA GIBSON, MCCM 2, page 308. Will probated November 5, 1827.

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SAMUEL ESTES, MCCM 2, page 545. Will probated November 3, 1828.
PEGGY EDUMUNDSON, MCCM 4, page 446. Will probated December 4, 1836.
ELIZA KING, MCCM 5, page 419. Will probated September 1, 1845.
MARY HOLMES, MCCM 6, page 338. Will probated July 8, 1851.

Unrecorded Will

SARAH BELL. Beloved sister MARY ROBESON all interest in property posessed "by us." "The people of colour are Becca, Winston, Floura, Kizia, Anderson, Alfred, Ann, Joe" and also to be given to this sister and she to be executrix. Signed with mark "___" (a straight line). April 16, 1846. Wits Reuben Burrow, Henry W. Kirkpatrick.

MCCM 5, page 563. Will probated February 1, 1847.

(This will, that of Sarah Bell, and the following will are in the box of loose wills, BOX WILL BOOKS 5 & 7, county court clerk’s office.)

WILLIAM FENDLEY, Chesterfield County, Virginia. Loving wife FRANCES land near courthouse and "slaves" Peter, Archer, black Sylvia, Sarah and children Joe and Lawson; Frank, Pleasant, Dorcus; livestock; all his interest in her "thirds" interest in estate of her former husband; farming tools. Son THOMAS FENDLEY several slaves and at death of wife farming tools and furniture. Dau MARTHA J. GREGORY slaves and the Hannah Spring tract of land. Dau ELIZABETH W. GREGORY $500 and slaves "loaned" for life. Grandsons slaves, at his death and then others at death of his wife: JAMES BEVERLY GREGORY, JOHN THOMAS GREGORY, CHESTAIN H. FENDLEY (provided he made over to his brother, Major THOMAS FENDLEY land he had from brother WILLIAM W. FENDLEY), WILLIAM FRANCIS FENDLEY. Also, $100 to grandsons. Dau HARRIET J. FENDLEY slaves. Execs Benjamin Graves, Edwin W. Poindexter, Thomas Fendley. September 27, 1830. Wits E. W. Poindexter, Francis J. Womack, Benjamin Graves. Codicil, November 15, 1832. Wife was to have his 4-wheel riding carriage and at death it would go to his son THOMAS FENDLEY. Grandson JOHN WINSTON FENDLEY to have a 105 acre tract. Son THOMAS FENDLEY have two tracts, 30 acres and 55 1/4 acres.

Will was probated in Chesterfield Co, Va., July 8, 1833. The copy of the will in the box of loose wills was written by an official of that county, Silas Cheatham. It is only annotated with "Exhibit A." The Madison County minute books for that period seem not to mention the case, by NAME, in which this will figured as documentation.

Also in this box of loose wills are the only ORIGINAL wills predating the wills recorded in will book five (original wills extant, 1845-1854) and these are for NANCY CHEWNING (1839), JOHN BARNETT (1844), B. G. STEWART (1840). The original wills recorded in will book six (1854-1862) are missing except for the few in this box: WILEY FUTRELL (1852), JAMES MONTGOMERY (1855) and WALLACE A. TRANSOU (1856). Original wills are extant from 1862 to the present.

In the Madison County Court Minute Book 4, page 326, Dr. ROBERT FENNER was recorded as being approved as guardian of his nephews RICHARD FENNER and STEPHEN OUTERBRIDGE and niece CATHARINE FENNER. November 9, 1835.

IBID., page 267. MOSES ROBISON given as having died on February 22, 1835.

In Will Book 2, page 8 JOHN WEIR is given as having died July 28, 1835.

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