Will, NC, Craven, William Bryan 1791 State of North Carolina Craven County I WILLIAM BRYAN do make and ordain this my last will and testament as followeth: I commend my soul to God who gave it of me. And as to my lands and movable disposed of them as followeth: IMPRIMIS I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife ELEANOR [BRYAN] all the Negroes that I am in possession of or entitled to, in consequence of my intermarriage with her, also 30 head of cattle, one yoke of oxen and cart, three of my best horses, all of my sheep and hogs, my riding chair, all my household furniture, of whatever kind, including that of the kitchen except [hole] as I shall hereafter particularly name [hole] her heirs to [hole] her absolute disposal [hole] unto my [hole] manner house [hole] I now live [hole] that part of my [hole] as followeth: Beginning on [hole] below the spring on main branch that [floweth through] my plantation empties in the creek [???] branch to the head of the prong leading towards the house lately occupied by my son HARDY [BRYAN], deceased, thence a direct line up the bottom to his corner; then with his line to the nearest point it makes to the houses lately owned by WILLIAM GREEN, now JOHN GOODING; thence with the line of a patent granted to Joseph Leech to the creek; thence down the creek to the first station. Supposed to contain two hundred acres, to [???] to her during her natural life. I do hereby appoint my said wife ELEANOR to be guardian of my daughters ELEANOR [BRYAN] & MARGARET [BRYAN] but my executors shall [hold] the custody of their property and pay her annually from the profits so much as it will afford. [hole] corn & other provisions as will [hole] next crop is gathered. MY WILL & desire that my executors sell in any manner that they shall think most advantageous upon a credit of one, two or three years my mills on Core Creek with what land I bought of FREDRICK Land on the west side & ten acres to be laid off on the east side of the creek adjoining the same also a tract of land I patented near the Wild Catts also all my lands on BACHELOR’s Creek, but not until the light wood is worked off the same; the money arising from these lands to be applied in & towards the payment of my debts & all the residue of my debts I [hole] upon the labor of my Negroes [hole] equally in proportion to what they [hole] or be hired for & I recommend that as soon as is possible [hole] employed [hole] and all [hole] able to work be employed in make [hole] lands at BACHELOR’s Creek [hole] all my debts entirely discharged. IMPRIMIS I give & bequeath to my son GREEN BRYAN all my lands on the east side of Core Creek below the main Spring Branch & adjoining to the lands I gave by deed to my son HARDY and all my lands on or near Cumberland River to him & his heirs forever. ITEM I give to my daughter MARY BRYAN all the lands I own in five surveys between Core Creek & Flat Swamp, viz. Part of a tract I bought of Richard Wallis; a small tract patented adjoining the mill upon & GEORGE BRYAN’s line; a small tract [hole] in between WALLIS’ survey & SWANN’s land, part of a tract being all [hole] of a grant of one hundred & sixty acres WALLIS’ [hole] towards the Flat Swamp [hole] I Page 1 of 5 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, NC, Craven, William Bryan 1791 now own of a tract [hole] FREDRICK Land & myself and also fifty acres out of my late survey at the head of the old Mill Branch called my ??? Pocoson, to her and her heirs forever. The remainder of the said new survey of Pocoson I give & bequeath to my son GREEN BRYAN & to his heirs forever. ITEM I give & bequeath to my daughter SUSANNA [SUSANNAH BRYAN] my house, lot & [hole] in New Bern and also a tract of marsh land near the town containing about seventy acres, to her & her heirs forever. ALL THE REST of my land and tenements whatsoever & wheresoever I bequeath to my [hole] including the house & other [hole] as described in my [hole] to them & their heirs forever to [hole] shall require & if either of them shall die before the division or come of age or are married and have issue, the whole of the said land shall go to the survivor and if my son GREEN shall die before he attains the age of twenty one years and without issue, the lands I have given him shall be divided between my daughters ELEANOR & MARGARET and if both of them should die as aforesaid the land I have given to them shall go to my son GREEN & to his heirs forever. I desire [hole] horse saddle & bridle [hole] executors for [???] daughters MARY & SUSANNA out of any money belonging to my estate whenever they want them. I give to each of my children MARY & SUSANNA, a feather bed & furniture out of those now in the house. I give to my daughter HOLLON [HOLTON] ANN [BRYAN] & my daughter ELIZABETH [BRYAN] the other of my large looking glass and I give to Polly my large Cherry Box ???. All the perishable articles of my estate not particularly given away I will sold and the money applied [hole] only require. I [???] … and what shall I do [???] them my [hole] my own or any of my children [hold] and it is my will that if ever the legislature [???] United States [???] legislature passes a law or [hole] favoring slaves that my slaves hath their [???] enjoy all the benefit of such law & if there should ??? be ??? passed out ??? the owners of the slaves to liberate & set them free, I do hereby as far as this, my will will operate, emancipate future service except as hereafter mentioned. The following negro slaves, viz. MEN: YORK, SIMON, BEN, MANGO, PETER & HIS WIFE JENNY, BOBA, TONEY, SAM, JAUSH BOY: ABRAM, JERRY WOMEN: SYLLA, ESTHER & HER CHILDREN BENNY, [HOLE] WILLIAM BRYAN Little [???] LEAH [???] AZAR, IRENE; woman ??? & her children, LUCY, MILLY, MARY, PHILLIS & AGGY Subject nevertheless they shall be bound to services at the discretion of my executors till all my debt be paid. Page 2 of 5 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, NC, Craven, William Bryan 1791 And it is my will if the ??? require that my executors demand of every person in whose possession any of the before mentioned slaves be be that are able to labor, cause them to be employed [hole] together in making sure all my [hole] paid and from then [hole] and no longer if the [hole] state will direct of them [hole] in the meantime. I give and bequeath the [???] labor of the said slaves as followeth: I give to my daughter SARAH [BRYAN] GREEN my negro man JAUSH which with what she has already received is in full of her quota of my estate. I give to my daughter HOLLOR [ANN BRYAN] MASTEN my negro man TONEY, woman RACHEL, girl LUCY & AGGY. I give & bequeath to my daughter ELIZABETH [BRYAN] LANE negro boy YORK which with what she has already received is in full of her quota of my estate. My [???] GREEN, wife of JOHN [hole] received her full quota of my estate so that I have nothing now to give her. I give to my wife negro woman SYLLA, negro woman EASTER shall be at liberty to work for herself and go where she pleases immediately after my death & my negro man YORK shall have the same liberty as soon as my debts are paid. All the rest of my Negroes shall be divided between my children: MARY [BRYAN], SUSANNA [BRYAN] GREEN, [hole] & MARGARET [BRYAN] and other [hole] born or [hole] of them as may be living [hole] hired & not divided but as my [hole] comes of age or marry at which time they shall respectively have their share or dividend of them. Page 3 of 5 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, NC, Craven, William Bryan 1791 NOTES: Son of Col. Hardy Bryan and Sarah Isler Husband of Susan Bryan and Eleanor Bryan Daughters Elizabeth "Betsy" Bryan; Nancy Ann Allen; Sarah Bryan; Hollan Ann Bryan; Sons Hardy Bonner Bryan and 5 others Brother of Hardy Bryan, Jr.; Thomas Bryan; Issac Bryan; Col. Nathan Bryan; Lewis Bryan and 1 other Half brother of John Worseley; Thomas Worseley and Joseph Worseley Page 4 of 5 ** PAGE BREAK ** Will, NC, Craven, William Bryan 1791 ###### # # ##### ####### # # ##### ####### # # # # ## ## # # # ## # # # # # ## ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### # # # # #### ##### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## ### # # # # # # ###### # # ##### ####### # # ### ##### ####### # # Transcribed from original documents by Brent R. Brian & Martha M. Brian. This document and others can be found on our website: BMGEN We claim COPYLEFT on the documents that we publish that are our original work. COPYLEFT “rules” can be reviewed on the web site: GNU Free Documentation License In short, use what you like. But if you use our stuff, mention us as the source. Brent R. Brian Martha M. Brian BrianMitchellGenealogy@gmail.com Page 5 of 5 ** PAGE BREAK **