Will of Jesse Bryant

 

Dated 2 November 1843 Produced in Court December Term 1843
Fayette County, Kentucky - Will Book "P" Pages 523-525:

Will of Jesse Bryant

In the name of God Amen. I Jesse Bryant of Fayette County, being of sound mind & disposing memory & knowing the uncertainties of life, do make & publish this instrument of writing as my Last Will & Testament hereby making void all former Wills made by me. Item. I desire my just debts to be paid.
Item. I give to and bequeath to Nancy [Ann B. Ellis Thomson] Coleman three hundred dollars.
Item. I give and bequeath to Pike Coleman & John M. Coleman [<-sons of John W. Thomson - step-father was Horace Coleman] one hundred dollars each.
Item. I give to William E. Coleman nine hundred and forty five dollars.
Item. It is my Will and desire that my old and faithful servants to wit:
Frank, Bill, Grace & Mary be kept upon my farm where I now live, during their lives & are to be well treated & taken care of. they are to perform reasonable labour for the benefit of themselves & the benefit of my estate. they are are not to be removed, or sold, & when they get old they are to be taken care of & supported out of my estate.
Item. It is my will and desire that my Executors & Trustees hereafter named, dispose of my hemp now broken out & on hand, & also my last crop now in the Stack, for the best price they can & lay out the money in land upon the best terms they can. the land to be purchased adjoining the tract I now live on, & the title to be taken subject to the trust vested in them.
Item. It is also my will & desire that my Executors & Trustees lay out my money on hand, & that which is due me for the hire of negroes & otherwise in the same manner I have directed them to lay out the money arising from hemp crops.
Item. I hereby appoint Horace Coleman & George Darnaby, my Executors & Trustees & I bequeath & convey to them the whole of the residue of my Estate, real, personal & mixed, to be held by them in trust for the benefit on my Grandson John J. Thompson, during his natural life, & if my said Grandson should marry & have legal heirs, my said Estate, at his death, in the hands of said Executors & Trustees, their heirs, Executors etc is to be held for the said heirs, & their heirs etc of my said Grandson John J. Johnson. Upon my deceased, it is my will & desire that my sd. Grand [son] John J. Thompson immediately take possession of the Estate hereby conveyed him in trust, & use & occupy the same subject to the advise of my said Executors & Trustees - receiving the rents & profits and issues of the same during his life & applying them to his own proper use and behoof & I hereby direct him to carry into full effect, my will as to my old negroes & to treat my slaves generally as a good master. It is also my will and desire, if my said Grandson John J. Thompson should die without legal heirs, of his own body, it is then my Will & desire, that my Estate shall be held by my Executors & trustees, their heirs, Executors etc. to the following uses: That in this event, my Executors & trustees, sell at public sale, the whole of my Estate, real, personal & mixed, (making suitable provisions for my old negroes) & divide the proceeds equally between my own relations, & my wife's relations, here named - share and share alike. My own relations being Jo?? Bryant, Jesse Bryant, Daniel Bryant, & James Rice. And my wife's relations being Nancy Coleman, her daughter, and Nancy Coleman's children. And also Lewis Ellis's children & Dudley Shipp's children, & Julian Hughes-all being Grand children of my said Wife & if either of our said relations should die, leaving heirs, then their heirs to receive their share, herein provided. In Testimony where I have hereunto set my hand & seal this 2nd day of November 1843.

Jesse Bryant (seal)

Witnesses:
James E. Davis
Thomas Ellis

Fayette County Sct. December Court 1843.
The foregoing Instrument of writing, purporting to be the Last Will and Testament of Jesse Bryant deceased, was produced in Court, proven by the oaths of of James E. Davis and Thomas Ellis, the subscribing Witnesses thereto, and ordered to be recorded, which is truly done in my office.
Att. James C. Rodes cf c.c.
by Wm. R. Bradford D. C.

NOTE: "Nancy" or Ann B. Ellis married 1st. Capt. John W. Thomson, and had Pike M. and John William Thomson. When Capt. Thomson died, Nancy (Ellis) Thomson married 2nd. Horace Coleman, hence the confusion of the names.
************************************************************************************

JOHN JESSE THOMPSON, the son of Rev. Robert Y. & Elizabeth (Bryant) Thom(p)son and grandson of Jesse Bryant.

Research by Margaret (Shipp) Henley

Names Abstracted from the Will of John Jesse Thompson as found in WILL BOOK "T" page 558-559 Fayette Co., KY
This document is very hard to read so I have only copied the first two items and then the names that were in the remainder of the will. If I know the relationship, I have included that in brackets. (Where she doesn't know the relationship and I do, I have included it {} vtb)

I John J. Thompson of the County of Fayette and state of Kentucky do make and constitute this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking all other Wills heretofore made by me.
First I desire that all my just debts be paid.
Secondly I bequeath One thousand Dollars to my Aunt Mrs. Nancy Garth {dau. of Asa & Diana (Quarles) Thomson} in consideration of the Kindness she has always manifested to me.
The other bequests are to:

Cousin Granville Smith (son of Sally Ellis Smith, eldest dau. of Wm. & Elizabeth (Shipp)
Cousin James K. Thompson, son of Clifton & Eliza (Ford)
Cousin Martha Lewis Fishback (dau. of Lewis Craig Ellis, son of Wm. & Elizabeth (Shipp)
Brother Asa T. Thompson for his kindness in coming with me from Missouri
Friend Genl. George W. Darnaby (probably an Ellis cousin)
Cousin Richard M. Ellis of New Orleans (son of Johnson Ellis, son of Wm. & Elizabeth (Shipp 
Cousin James K. Thompson {listed above}
Father
Books to brothers - not named {William Z., and Clifton Rodes}
Bed clothes to sisters - not named {Emma, Sarah R., Louisa, Annie, Martha O., Mary Ann & Latitia}
Appt. George W. Darnaby Executor
Remainder of Estate to Father Robert Y. Thompson
Joel Bryant of Jessamine Co., Ky the portrait of my Grand Father J.____ Bryant he being the nephew of said J. ____ Bryant. (Jesse Bryant, 2nd husband of Elizabeth (Shipp) Ellis and father of their daughter, Elizabeth (Bryant) Thomson)

Dated 24 August 1852 - a Codicil was dated 26 August 1852 - Will was proved and recorded 8 November 1852.

I copied this 5 November 1997 at the LDSFHC. This gives me an approximate date for John Jesse's death
between 26 August and 8 November 1852.

Margaret SHIPP Henley