Will of John R. Cathey--Dickson Co TN -Drawn July 10th 1827--Proved July Term 1828 -- Recorded Jan Term 1830

John R Cathey No. 46

State of Tennessee Dickson County
I John R. Cathey calling to mind the mortality of all flesh and being feeble of body but sound in memory and understanding do ordain this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking all others.

1st I give unto my beloved wife Peggy Cathey during her natural life or widowhood all of my lands that I am now in possession of(except fifty acres lying above my son Archy Cathey's which I give to my son Joshua Cathey).  The balance at my wife's decease to be equally divided amongst my four younger sons vez. Daniel, Samuel, Martin and John Cathey.  Also I give to my said wife all my personal property after all my legal debts are paid.  Also I give unto my Daughters Jane and Dolly, one feather bed, one cow and calf each when they come of age or marry.

2nd As I have give to my son George one filly, to Archie one small Horse and to my daugher Maj., wife of William G. Austin a cow and calf and feather bed they are to have no more of the remaining property as I consider they have had their share and neither more when the rest are raised.

3rd I do constitute and appoint Munford Smith and Peggy my wife my sole Executor to this my last will and testament.In Witness hereof I sign and seal the same 10th day of July 1827




Test. John Forsythe    John R. Cathey his mark (seal)

State of Tennessee Dickson County Court July Term 1828
Then was the within paper writing purporting to be the last Will and Testament of John R Cathey dec'd produced in open court and proved to be such by the oath of Jno Forsythe as subscribing witness thereto and teh same was ordered to be certified accordingly and recorded

Test. Field Farrar Clerk of said Court

State of Tennessee Dickson County January 30th 1830
Then was the last Will and Testament of John R. Cathey dec'd Recorded in Book A page 103
Field Farrar Clerk

Will of William Cook-- Surry County, North Carolina April 1801

Reading through some early Cook wills and thought this one contained a good deal of information on the family of William Cook of Surry Co., North Carolina so have put some of the information contained in the will below.  The image of the will in its entirety can be found at Ancestry.com in the North Carolina Wills and Probate Collection

Name William Cook
Probate Date 27 Apr 1801
Probate Place Surry, North Carolina, USA
Source Information
Item Description Wills, Vol 1-3, 1771-1827

Image 491 of 626 Book pg 44
Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.

Wife:     Keziah

Children:

• Samuel Cook (listed in the first portion of the will)

• Mary(eldest daughter)  Her Children:  Nancy, Polly and  Elizabeth Shores.
• Benjamin Cook
• David Cook

• John Cook
• William Cook
• Hannah Meridith
• Elizabeth Cook
• Sarah Jones
• Frances Cook
• Keziah DeJarnete

Also listed in the will are the following listed as Negros
Negros: George, Tom, Rachel, Berry, Susey, Old Sam, Jane, Hale? and Ransome

Witnesses:
Benjamin Carter
Keziah Cook

Sorting thru Putman DNA matches.

Working on the Union Co South Carolina Putmans today in my DNA research. Several from this family came to Williamson/Bedford/Rutherford Co TN. I am a descendant of Jabel/Jabez Putman thru his daughter Elizabeth Putman Cook(my 2nd Great Grandmother) From the DNA I can identify several segments coming from Jabel Putman and his wife...I show matches to Descendants of their sons Hiram and Noah as well as daughters Parry, Sarah "Sally" and Susan Frances. Over the past few months I have been writing notes to those that matched my AncestryDNA and were in the Jabel Putman DNA circle with me at Ancestry.com. Several had already uploaded to GEDmatch which was very helpful because you really cannot compare segment matches at Ancestry and Identify segments. The best you can do at Ancestry is tell total amt of cMs shared but that does very little other than give you a guesstimate of what relationship you might be in reference to the averages on the Inherited cMs chart which I use. I seem to remember that Ancestry removes false positive areas and doesn't count X segment matches(but that could have changed or I could be mistaken). The best policy is to have kits uploaded to GEDmatch.com so that you can compare the segments using your own settings. I generally don't lower below 7cM or 500 SNPs to be considered a segment match that is from a common ancestor. When I have a grouping of kits of descendants of the same couple I will sometimes lower slightly to see if I can get any clues for other unknown areas of a chromosome but that doesn't really happen much as I am busy working on many large segments which I have yet to find the common ancestor or ancestor couple even though I have most of my 4th Great Grandparents for all of my lines(with one or two exceptions).


I am hopeful that one or more of my Cook/Putman cousins will take an autosomal dna test so I can find our common segments and search within the ones we do not have in common with the Putman cousins to help and determine the origins of the Cook line since we can't make it past our 2nd Great Grandfather, Wm. Clifford Cook.

Pondering on the Littles, Lambs, Putmans and their many connections to the Cooks

William C. Cook & Elizabeth Putman were married in Williamson Co TN Sept 27 1831. Wm. C. Cook obtained their marriage license and signed a marriage bond on Sept 25th.  There is a Zachariah Little that signs with him on the marriage bond.  William C. Cook also signed on Zachariah's marriage bond also taken out on the same day(Sept 26) to a Mary Hill.   I have never been able to find William C. Cook in the 1850 census but I believe that is due to the 1850 census records for the Rover being lost/destroyed or missed entirely.  I found Zachariah in the 1850 census of Marshall Co TN and it appears that Mary has died after having several children with him and he has remarried to a Lydia Swinford(Sept 20th 1844 in Lincoln Co TN)

There is also an Alfred L. Little listed in the estate inventory for Joseph S. Cook--an estate over which William C. Cook was the named administrator(Jan Term 1839).  Not sure how these Little families connect to the Cook line or to one another.   They may just have been neighbors however it was usually kin who signed off on bonds and a lot of times neighbors WERE  kinfolk.  Charles and Hardy Pope are also mentioned in the inventory listing as purchasing items.  I believe some of Hardy's children married into the Lamb family which intermarried heavily with the Putmans and is well represented in the listing of those purchasing items from Joseph S. Cook's estate.  Other purchases were Richard Nance, Johnathan Vickers?, Joseph Hight, James Putman, Hiram Putman, William Putman, Noah Putman and Nancy Putman.  Nancy Putman is listed as the purchaser of 1 large Bible.  I believe that this Nancy Putman is Nancy Tyler Putman widow of Jabel/Jabez Putman and mother of Elizabeth Putman Cook, Parry Putman Lamb and the other male Putmans listed.  I wonder what became of the Bible. I believe the Hight and the Pope families also are connected to each other after looking thru some of the family histories in my copy of the History of Rover & the 10th District of Bedford County.book. From a glance at the 1850 Census I see Little families in Cannon, Bedford, Rutherford, Marshall and Williamson Counties of TN

Wish we had a clue who Joseph's wife was before they married and if they were William Clifford Cook's parents.  My autosomal dna is matching with others who have Cooks out of Orange/Chatham Co NC area but whether that is Cook DNA or DNA from another line of that area which came to Bedford Co TN is hard to say.  Once there are non Cook descendants from William Clifford Cook's line testing we may be able to sort out some of that mystery.

Will of Thomas Tart--Sampson Co NC Will Book 1 pg 369-371

Information from the Will of Thomas Tart
Sampson Co NC  Will Book 1 pg 369-371 
Written 26th Dec 1848
Proven May Term 1850

• Eldest Daughter, Sarrah Hanes of TN $400

• 4 Grandchildren(Children of daughter Patsy) $50 each  Named: John Westbrook, Sarah Byrd, Mary Piles?, Wm. Westbrook Jr.

• John Tart Land $200

• Thomas Tart Land $200

• Nathan Tart Land $200

• James Tart Land and owes not to this estate for $150

• Nancy Denning  Money and Property $40

• Pharrabe McLamb Money and Property $40

• Elizabeth McLamb Money and Property $40

Later in the will it also mentions daughter Patsy again and 4 grandchildren which are her children

and says "by John Ward Sr"   he leaves them $25 each.  So it seems like Patsy had 8 children in all

4 by John Ward Sr and 4 by Wm. Westbrook Sr..

Any additional monies left over after debts are paid and the executor has paid off the above legacies should be divided equal among the youngest 7 children

Witnesses: 

Sarah Tart

T. J?  Bennet

Wm. Gregory

Additional Info not given in will:  

Thomas Tart is the father of Sarrah Tart Haynes who married Abraham Haynes. Sarrah & Abraham are buried in Rutherford Co TN. and lived in the Williamson and Rutherford Co TN area.

I became interested in this will as some of my DNA matches are descendants of Abraham  & Sarah but I have no known connection to any of the other relatives in their tree that I can see thus far which would lead me to believe our connection is some time prior to that couple.  These were the only persons in that matches tree that were in the "right" area that I could tell.  It is also possible that our connection is a separate still unknown to either or both of us at this point ancestor.  I did have fun reading over this will so if nothing else it had entertainment value.

Will of John Cook--Orange Co. NC Feb Term 1811---written March 9, 1798

Will Book written page # 278 & 279

In the Name of God Amen the ninth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred ninety eight.  I John Cook of the county of Orange & state of North Carolina being sick and weak of body but sound and perfect mind and memory thanks be given to God for the same do make this my last will & testament in manner & form following.

First, I give & bequeath to my beloved son Archibald Cook the land & plantation whereon he now lives containing seventy acres as has been already surveyed.  I give & bequeath unto my beloved son David Cook the land & plantation whereon he now lives with all the land on the South side of the road. I give & bequeath unto my beloved son Robert Cook the use of one bay mare to raise a colt on which she is with foal now & after the colt can be raised off he is to have the colt and return the mare to my estate again.  I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Sarah Cook the use of all my lands & plantation with all the stock of all kinds with household furniture & all my estate of what kind so ever during her natural life and after her decease my Will and desire is that all my lands stock of all kinds and of what kind so ever be equally divided between all my children & I do hereby appoint my beloved son David Cook & friend Hardy Hurdle my executor of this my last will & Testament and I do hereby renounce all other wills but this alone.
In Witness whereof I have here unto set my hand & seal

Orange Co Feb. Term 1811
The executor of the foregoing last will & testament of John Cook Dec'd was duly proved in open court by the oath of Hardy Hurdle one of the subscribing witnesses there to & ordered to be recorded

North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 
Wills, Vol [A]-D 1752-1822
Source Information  Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts
Images 605 & 606  of 782