Will of James Glass

Will Book A, Page 68, 69, 70

Sumter Co., Georgia

Submitted by: Joan Robinson

 

Georgia

Sumter County, Georgia

 

In the name of God,  Amen.  I, James Glass, of said state & county, being of advanced age,  both & knowing that I must shortly depart from this world, deem it right & proper, both as respects myself & family, that I should make a deposition of the property with which a kind providence has blessed me. I, therefore, make this my last Will & testament, hereby revoking & annulling all heretofore made by me.

Item First.  I desire & direct that my body be buried in a decent & Christian like manner, suitable to my circumstances & condition.  My Soul; I trust shall return to & with God who gave it as I hope for Eternal Salvation through the Blessed Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ whose religion I have professed, & as I humbly trust have enjoyed for many years.

Item Second.  I desire & direct that my Executor (hereinafter named) pay without delay all my just debts as they fall due: As I am unwilling that my creditors be delayed of their just rights unnecessarily.

Item Third.  I give & bequeath to my son, John Wesley the place whereon I recently resided, orig. lot of land no. (20) Twenty in (26) twenty-sixth district of Sumter County with all the improvements & appertainces, thereunto belonging, or in anywise appertaining.

Item Fourth.  I desire & direct that my entire property (after paying my just debts as above provided for) be kept together during my wife’s lifetime or widowhood, for the purpose of raising & educating my children & at the expiration of either her lifetime or widowhood, I desire & direct that my Executor divide all my property (not otherwise disposed of in this will) equally between all my children. To wit: Samuel B. Glass, Mary Reid, Martha Maddox, Sarah Nunn, Elizabeth Jane Perkins, Augusta Ann Sirrine, Caroline Glass, Emeline Glass, John Wesley Glass, & Henrietta Glass.

Item Fifth. I desire and direct that my Executors have a general supervision over my property to see that it is not wasted or abused, and that they also be the protector of my beloved wife during her lifetime or widowhood, and see that she well and comfortably provided for. I, also, desire and direct and direct that they sell or exchange any property hereinafter to be specified both as what it embraces and how it is to be controlled and that they use any surplus funds in the purchase of the property for the same, whenever they may think it best for the interest of my children to do so.

Item Sixth. I do hereby revoke& make null & void a Power of Attorney given by me sometime in the month of May (I think) of the year eighteen hundred & fifty eight to my son-in-law, Hawkins H. Nunn & witnessed by William Herrington & Washington Ryton, conveying to him the said Hawkins H. the exclusive management & control of the mineral springs, & the one hundred & one fourth (101 ¼) acres of land more or less, on which they are located, being the south of lot no. forty three (43) in the twenty sixth (26) district of Sumter County together with all the improvements therein- .  And do now, in this my last Will & Testament, convey to my Executors hereinafter to be named, the exclusive control of the above described property, to which is to be added under the same  control, the portions of lands & its improvements I lately purchased off lot no. (44) forty four adjoining the springs, known as part of Whitehurst lot, & also the old academy lot on the hill, being a part of the same lot of land containing two acres with all its improvements. The above control to be limited only by the following restrictions in item seven.

Item Seventh.  I direct that my Executors from time to time put up such improvements on the described premises as in their judgments they may think circumstances will justify, and that they shall not sell the same during the lifetime or widowhood of my beloved wife.  But in the event that she dies or marries again, I direct that they shall sell property privately or publicly as they think best, & divide the proceeds of the same among all my children according to the directions of the fourth item.

Item Eight.  I constitute & appoint my beloved son, Samuel B. Glass & my son-in-law William H. Reid, Executors this, my last Will & Testament, & desire that they shall act as guardians for children.    

Item Ninth.  No provisions in this will shall be so construed as to affect the separate interest bequeath to my son, John Wesley in the third item, nor to conflict with the control of the mineral springs property by my Executors, Samuel B. Glass & William H. Reid so long as they exercise that control according to the spirit & intention of its grant as set forth in the sixth & seventh items.  The words (my) in the fifth item, (same) in the sixth, & (property) in the ninth, interlined before signed.

 

                                                                                                             James Glass 

 

Signed, Sealed, Declared & Published by James Glass as his last Will & Testament in the presence of us, the subscribers, who subscribed our names hereto in the presence of the Testator & of each other, on this July 3rd 1861.

Test. Jeremiah Hilsman

         Matthew E. Rylander

         Henry Davenport, Jr.

 

Georgia, Sumter County

Court of Ordinary for said county

September Term 1861

 

In open court before me Louis Bruner, Ordinary in and for said county, personally came Jeremiah Hilsman, Mathew E. Rylander and Henry Davenport, Jr. the three subscribing witnesses to the attached instrument as his last Will and Testament, and at his request, and in the presence of each other; and that at the time of the signing the said James Glass was of sound & disposing mind & memory, as far as they know and believe, and that he signed the same freely and voluntarily of  his own accord without any undue influence or compulsion whatever.

                           Jeremiah Hilsman

                           Matthew E. Rylander

                           Henry Davenport, Jr.