REYNOLDS, E. J.

State of North Carolina
Tyrrell County
Book 4, Page 285
Dated 8 August 1912


North Carolina,
Tyrrell County

I, E. J. Reynolds, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, and calling to my mind the uncertainty of my earthly existence, and desiring to make disposition of my estate do make and declare this my last Will and Testament:

1. I desire that my executors hereinafter named shall collect all debts due me individually, and bury my body in accordance with the wishes of my family, and erect at my grave a tombstone, and that they shall pay for the same, and also any just debts by me owing at the time of my death out of the first moneys coming into their hands belonging to my estate.

2. It is my will and desire that my executors hereinafter named shall sell all of my property real and personal which belongs to me individually.

3. It is my will and desire the Mercantile business conducted by myself and Joseph E. Reynolds, if my brother Joseph E. Reynolds desires to continue the said business, shall be wound up as follows:

My brother Joseph E. Reynolds shall select an appraiser and W. E. Spencer one of my executors hereinafter named shall select another appraiser and the two appraisers so selected shall name the third appraiser, and these three appraisers shall make out under oath a full and complete inventory and appraisement of the entire assets of the partnership including the goods, wares and merchandise, store fixtures, mortgages, notes, bonds, accounts and every thing belonging to said partnership, and shall make a schedule of the debts and liabilities of said partnership and deliver copy to said Joseph E. Reynolds, and copy to said W. E. Spencer. Then if my brother Joseph E. Reynolds wishes to purchase my interest in the partnership assets at the appraised value thereof, after first deducting therefrom the debts and liabilities of the partnership, he may do so either for cash or upon such time as said W. E. Spencer deems proper, and in case he purchases the said partnership assets on time, he shall give such security for the same as said W. E. Spencer thinks proper, and he shall also give bond to said W. E. Spencer with surety to be approved by said W. E. Spencer for the payment of the debts and liabilities of said partnership, and for the performance of all contracts for which said partnership is liable. Should my brother Joseph E. Reynolds not wish to purchase my interest in the said mercantile business, he and the said W. E. Spencer shall proceed to settle for my interest in said Mercantile business in the manner provided by law, and accounting to the said W. E. Spencer for my interest in said Mercantile business.

4. My executors hereinafter named after they have converted all of my estate into money and paid all just claims against my estate including burial expenses and costs of administering my estate, shall pay one-third of the money in their hands to my beloved wife, Alice Reynolds, and one-third to my beloved son, Julius Reynolds, and the remaining one-third thereof shall be paid to my beloved son, Frederick Reynolds.

5. My sons Julius Reynolds and Frederick Reynolds, being both minors, I hereby constitute and appoint my brother Joseph E. Reynolds Guardian of my said sons, to have and to hold the custody of their estates until they shall each arrive at full age of twenty one years.

6. I hereby constitute and appoint my brother Joseph E. Reynolds and my friend W. E. Spencer executors to this my last Will and Testament to execute the same according to the true intent and meaning thereof and every part and clause thereof, hereby revoking and declairing void all other Wills and Testaments by me heretofore made.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 8th day of August 1912.

E. J. Reynolds (Seal)

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said E. J. Reynolds to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each other do subscribe our names as witnesses thereto.

Stephen Brickhouse
J. G. Brickhouse


North Carolina )
Tyrrell County ) ss In the Superior Court

A paper purporting to be the last Will and Testament of E. J. Reynolds, deceased,is exhibited before me, the undersigned, Clerk of the Superior Court for said County, by Jos. E. Reynolds the execut__ therein mentioned, and the due execution thereof by the said E. J. Reynolds by the oath and examination of Stephen Brickhouse and James G. Brickhouse, the subscribing witness thereto, who being duly sworn, doth depose and say, and each for himself deposeth and saith, that he is a subscribing witness to the paper writing now shown him, purporting to be the last Will and Testament of E. J. Reynolds; that the said E. J. Reynolds in the presence of deponent subscribed his name at the end of said paper writing, which is now shown as aforesaid, and which bears date of the 8th day of August, 1912.

And this deponent further saith, That the said E. J. Reynolds the testator aforesaid, did at the time of his subscribing his name as aforesaid declare the said paper writing so subscribed by him and exhibited to be his last Will and Testament, and this deponent did there upon subscribe his name at the end of said Will as an attesting witness thereto, and at the request and in the presence of said testator and his deponent further saith, that at the same time when the said testator subscribed his name to the said last Will as aforesaid, and at the time of the deponent's subscribing his name as an attesting witness thereto, as aforesaid, the said E. J. Reynolds was of sound mind and memory, of full age to execute a will, and was not under any restraint, to the knowledge, information or belief of this deponent: And further these deponents say not.

Stephen Brickhouse
J. G. Brickhouse

Severally sworn and subscribed, this)
29th day of Sept, 1913 before me. )

W. M. Brickhouse
Clerk Superior Court


North Carolina)
Tyrrell County) ss In the Superior Court

It is therefore considered and adjudged by the Court that the said paper-writing and every part thereof is the last Will and Testament of E. J. Reynolds, deceased. Let the said Will, together with the probate, be recorded and filed.

This 29th day of Sept. 1913

W. M. Brickhouse
Clerk Superior Court


Return to the Tyrrell County Probate Records


Updated January 18, 2002
Jean Owens Schroeder