Author Topic: Will of John Jenkins, Feb 20, 1790  (Read 503 times)

Offline NicVog

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Will of John Jenkins, Feb 20, 1790
« on: Tuesday 14 January 20 23:24 GMT (UK) »
Hello everyone, probably a bit of a longshot, but does anyone know where I might find the original document of a will written in 1790?

https://books.google.com/books?id=A1jcyH8uUMQC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=massey+chrismus+medearis&source=bl&ots=pgLnRiIsts&sig=ACfU3U1U7qGLAL1kJly2rtfBvYsdbFOx5w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizx4bFk4TnAhVMh-AKHYgRDdYQ6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=massey%20chrismus%20medearis&f=false



Basically, I am looking for information on Massey C. Medearis. If his Revolutionary War pension application is accurate, he was born in 1755 in Virginia to John Medearis and Rachel Davis. He had a middle name, that started with a C. as attested to in several documents (his own will, his military pension application, and when he appeared as a witness for John Jenkins' will) though only the Jenkins will spells out his middle name, as Chrismus.



I understand middle names were quite rare in the United States, at least among English-Protestant communities, until after the Revolutionary war, and were only occasionally used, at first particularly in the South, to mark kinship among extended families. While there is a Christmas family that appears in the area on an American census some time later, there doesn't seem to be any Christmases in the area at the time of Massey's birth. However, according to a few Medearis genealogy works from the 50s/60s, it was passed down among the family that the mother, Rachel Davis, was some relation to the Washington family. There is a letter from the early 1800s to Massey's brother, Captain John Medearis Jr., from his son in law while he was away at his Tennessee plantation awarded to him for his military service, stating that the Washingtons had stopped by to visit, though it didn't state the relation to them.



Recent Medearis researchers believe the name on the will wasn't Chrismus, but Chisman, and Rachel Davis was the daughter of Edward Davis and Mary Reade. Mary Reade was the daughter of Francis Reade and Jane Chisman (and Mary's sister Elizabeth was a great-grandmother of George Washington, hence possibly explaining the connection). Edward Davis and Mary Reade did live in the same county as the Meadaris family, and there doesn't seem to be much surviving information on them or their children, so it's definitely possible. There was another Rachell Davies, born in Christchurch, Middlesex county, though, not too far from the Meadaris family either, the daugher of a John and Elizabeth Davies.



Now, it's possible perhaps Rachel was a common name among the Davies family, and the Rachel born to John and Elizabeth wasn't the same Rachel Davies who married John Medearis Sr. It's also possible a generation was missed by the Medearis researchers and Rachel Davies was perhaps a grandaughter of Edward Davies and Mary Reade rather than the daughter. I also don't know if Davies and Davis are totally different names, I know spelling was fluid back then.

I thought, if it's possible to see the original will of John Jenkins (which I've given a link to the transcription of above) I could look and see if Chrismus was a mistranscription of Chisman? Alternatively, is Christmas a likely verbal error, a mishearing of Chisman? I'd appreciate any help figuring out this mystery.

Offline ..claire..

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Re: Will of John Jenkins, Feb 20, 1790
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 14 January 20 23:38 GMT (UK) »
Hi

Ancestry have lots of copies of this Will with what looks to be written in the same hand but I'm wondering if this is the real copy as the signatures on this set look different
Luce, Tippett , Thomson, Dolling ~ Devon & Cornwall
Mocquard ~ London, France
Census info is Crown Copyright http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline NicVog

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Re: Will of John Jenkins, Feb 20, 1790
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 15 January 20 03:19 GMT (UK) »
Oh wow, thank you very much for finding that. And sorry, how do you mean about the signatures looking different?

Offline ..claire..

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Re: Will of John Jenkins, Feb 20, 1790
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 15 January 20 10:22 GMT (UK) »
Hi

Ancestry have a copy of the Will written or copied by the same person - in a collection of Wills from S Carolina

They also had the snippet I put on this thread - I went back and it was from the collection of ‘original Wills from S Carolina’ - and I could see the signatures were each written by a different hand.

Claire
Luce, Tippett , Thomson, Dolling ~ Devon & Cornwall
Mocquard ~ London, France
Census info is Crown Copyright http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


Offline NicVog

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Re: Will of John Jenkins, Feb 20, 1790
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 16 January 20 04:26 GMT (UK) »
Ah, I see. Thank you for looking. So the will from the snippet is from a source of original wills, as in not a copy?