Transcribed by Betty Bivins
In the name of God Amen The twenty second day of May in the year of our Lord 1762 I John Harper of the province of North Carolina in the County of Carteret, Planter, being sick in body but of good and perfect memory. Thanks be to Almighty God, and calling to mind & remembrance the uncertain estate of the Transitory life, and that all flesh must yield unto death when it shall please God to call; do make and declare this my last will & Testament in manner and form following; first being peniteint and sorry for all my sins; most humbly desiring forgiveness for the same; I commend my soul unto almighty God my Savior and Redeemer; in whom & by whose merits I trust & believe assuredly to be saved & to have full remission & forgiveness of all my sins & to Inherit the Kingdom of heaven and my Body I commit to the earth to be Desently Buried at the discretion of my Execr’s hereafter named; and for the settling of my Temporal estate & such Goods & chattels as it hath pleased God to bestow upon me; I do order Give & dispose of the same in manner & form following: Improvements (?) I lend to my beloved wife during her widowhood the use of my plantation.
Item: I give and bequeath to my son John Harper & his heirs my plantation with the land to the same belongings and one bed & furniture on Trading (?) gun one Brindle colored cow & yearling and all my carpenters, joiners, coopers & shoe making tools.
Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter, Sarah Harper & her heirs Three hundred acres of land in Craven County on the w’t side of Trent River and one black cow called Blackberry & one small Duftile (Drestile?) Chest.
Item: I give and bequeath to my daughter, Lydia Harper and her heirs a tract land joining Webster’s Land on the river and one red heifer called Good Luck.
Item: I give & bequeath to my daughter, Elizabeth Smith, two, two year old stears and also one Red yearling heifer to my grand son Elijah Smith.
Item: I give & bequeath to my grandson Benjamin Webster one shilling sterling.
Item: I leave to my well beloved wife, Mary Harper during her Widowhood all the remainder of my Estate that is not above mentioned, and at my wife’s decease to be equally divided between my son John & daughters Sarah & Lydia By estimation of my executors and I hereby make and appoint
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my true friend John Backhouse & loving wife & John Knott in Craven County & my son in law Thomas Smith of Onslow County Executors of this my Last will and Testament. Disannulling & making void all former wills and Bequests by me made, and Declaring this only to be my last will & Testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the day & year above written.
John Harper (seal)
Sign’d, Seald’ published
pronounced & Declared By the said John Harper to be his last will & Testament
In the presence of
James Barry Junr’
Stephen Dudley
Abraham Dudley
FHL # 18410, Book D, pp 215-16, Carteret Co NC Wills 1745-1961
This will was transcribed from a photocopy of microfilm housed in the LDS Library in Salt Lake City, Utah by Betty Bivins. I have typed it as the words appear to me, and have put (?) after words of which I am unsure. This photocopy was sent to me by Kathleen Wilde, 1626 N 1550 E, and Provo, UT 84604-5735. I met her through an Internet query in October 2006.
FHL# 18379, Wills, Inventories, Sales & Settlements of Estates Vol. 6
1741-1887, Carteret Co Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions.
His original will is in the film as numbered below, but it has many black spots on the copy. FHL # 18379 Wills, Inventories, Sales & Settlements of Estates Vol. 6 1741-1887. Carteret Co Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions. These witnesses are in the Jones Co. NC history book. I have never tried to accurately define the county lines and their changes from these early times.