Last Will and Testament of Stephen G. Wells

The original last will and testament of Stephen G. Wells, written in iron gall ink on both sides of four sheets of off-white paper to make eight pages total. The will begins “In the name of God Amen, I Stephen G Wells being in my perfect mind and memory do make and ordain this as my last will + testament.” The will is thus divided into sixteen provisions for Wells’ property, three of which mention enslaved persons.

In the second provision, Wells emancipates three enslaved persons: Bob, Kitty and her daughter Sally, asking that they be allowed to remain in Virginia and providing them with pieces of land carved out of Wells’ land and provided them with houses on their portion of the land. He also states they be paid out $50 annually, or “such amounts as they may think their / necessities require.” If they leave the state, voluntarily or involuntarily, they are to be given $500 and their house and lot to be taken back by the executors. In the in the seventh provision, Wells leaves “my neg[ro] / man London & his wife Sally & their three children Merritt, / Susan & Sally, or such of them as I may own at my death” to Eliza Ann Archer. There appears to be another mention of an enslaved person in the sixteenth provision, though a large loss of the document prohibits a full transcription.

The sixth provision pertains to property Wells expects to purchase in North Carolina, near Chapel Hill, and the seventh lists several advances on his estate made to his sisters and their families, dated from 1835 to 1848. On the final page, there are several witnesses listed and an addendum dated September 20, 1849 in Petersburg, Virginia, that the will was “proved in open Court / by the oaths of Joseph E Cox and John Murdaugh / two of the subscribing witnesses…” and signed by a John Maun: [Jno Maun DC]. There are minor tears along the folds and edges of the first two sheets, with the last two sheets previously split into fragments and considerable loss to the final sheet.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Released by the Smithsonian Institution under CC0 through Smithsonian Open Access.

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