Chesterfield Co, VA Will Book 6, p.386-7
In the name of God, Amen, I John Puckett of the parish of Dale and county of Chesterfield, being weak in body but sound in mind and memory thanks be to God for the same, but knowing the uncertainty of human life, do make and ordain this my last will and testament in form and manner following, hereby renouncing and revoking all former wills by me made .
Item, to my beloved wife Dolley Puckett I give and bequeath the use, profit, and benefit of my whole estate real and personal, during her life or widowhood, except such parts thereof as are specially disposed of hereafter. and at her decease to be divided equally betwixt my children Francis Puckett, Simon Puckett, William Puckett, and the one which my said wife is teeming with, be it a girl or a boy: but in case my said wife Dolley Puckett should marry, she shall be dispossessed of every part thereof by the executor, and the estate kept together for the benefit of the above children, untill the said executor shall see cause for a division, and in case any of the above legatees should die before the death of their mother or before any division should take place, or after, their portion is to fall to the surviving part of them.
Item, to my son Lewis Puckett I give and bequeath the sum of Twenty pounds, to be paid at his mother's death, to him and his heirs forever .
Item. it is my will and desire that my son Lewis Puckett be dispossessed from the house he is now dwelling in, on or before the Twenty fifth day of December next - and that my man Hampton be kindly treated for his faithful services during the time I have had him in possession.
Lastly , I constitute and appoint my dearly beloved wife Dolley Puckett and my friend William Ferguson Senr executrix and executor of this my last will and testament . In witness hereof I have at my hand and real this Tenth day of October in the year one thousand eight hundred and six .
In presence of Thomas Whitworth James Snellings, Eldridge Smith John Smith (his X mark)
John Puckett (his X mark) {seal}
At a Court held for Chesterfield County the 8th day of December 1806, this last will and testament of John Puckett deceased was proven by the oath of James Snellings and Eldridge Smith subscribing witnesses , and ordered to be recorded . And on the motion of Dolley Puckett and William Ferguson, executrix and executor therein named, who took the oath prescribed by law, and entered into bonds with security, conditioned as the law directs, certificate is granted them of having obtained probate thereof in due form.
Teste Thomas Watkins Clerk .
Some notes on this will:
1) John Puckett's grandfather was John Puckett, who I call "John Puckett of Third Branch" to distinguish from the other John Pucketts in Chesterfield Co, VA at the same time. See More Puckett Research, section "John Puckett of Third Branch". Note that John Puckett's 1772 will gave to his grandson John Puckett 150 acres and the slave boy Hampton. The John Puckett in the 1806 will mentions "my man Hampton", proving the link back to his grandfather.
2) John Puckett who wrote the 1806 will was still a minor (under 21) in Aug 1781 - Chesterfield Co, VA OB 6:323 Aug 1781 - Edward Reams guardian of "John Puckett Orphan of Lewis Puckett". This record gives John's father's name as Lewis Puckett. Edward Reams was likely John Puckett's uncle, married to Frances (Puckett) Reams, mentioned as a daughter of John Puckett of the 1772 will.
3) In the 1783 Virginia State Census for Chesterfield County (Census Bureau link, p.50, column 4), John Puckett is shown as a head of a household with 2 white people and 1 black person (John, his wife Dorothy, slave man Hampton).
4) John's wife was Dorothy L LNU (last/maiden name unknown). Sometimes appears as Dorotha. Often appears by nickname Dolley or Dolly, common nicknames for Dorothy.
5) Note that in 1783, John and Dorothy had no children (see above). The notion that their son Lewis was born in 1764 comes from the fact his wife was Rhoda (Newby), and researchers found another Puckett married to a Rhoda, Revolution War Vet John Puckett whose widow was Rhoda Lidia/Lydia; this John Puckett was born in 1764. Because both Lewis Puckett and John Puckett (born 1764) were married to women named Rhoda they have been combined and conflated.
6) There are multiple other ways to prove that Lewis Puckett, son of John & Dorothy L Puckett was born circa 1784 or slightly later. When Lewis Puckett married Rhoda Newby in 1803 in Chesterfield Co, VA, he was under 21, and thus considered a minor at the time; Virginia law required people under 21 to have parental consent to marry, which is why John Puckett gave consent for Lewis to marry. On the 1820 census of Amelia Co, VA, Lewis Puckett was the male in his household aged 26-44, indicating he was born after 1775. Lewis Puckett was missed in the 1830 census, though tax lists place him in Amelia Co, VA. In 1840, he is listed as "Louis Puckett" in Hickman Co, KY and he was the male in his household aged 50-59, placing his birth between 1780 and 1790. Lastly, records clearly indicate that Dorothy was the mother of Lewis, and the 1806 will of John Puckett indicates Dorothy was pregnant at the time - if Lewis was born in 1764, then his mother was pregnant again 42 years later, which is a biological impossibility.
7) The 1802 land tax list of Chesterfield Co, VA, John Puckett was listed with 147 acres. He inherited half of his grandfather's 300 acre land patent. It may have been slightly less than 150 acres due to a more accurate survey, or sometimes land was taken by the county for roads, etc.
8) There may have been a falling out between John Puckett and his son Lewis, because John's will does not give any land to Lewis, and in fact, evicts him from his father's land. Lewis Puckett was to get 20 pounds money, but only after the death of his mother. In a Chesterfield Co, VA deed, Lewis Puckett of Amelia Co gave to his daughter Edna Puckett any legacy coming to him from his father, John Puckett deceased, and his mother, Dorothy L Puckett (Chesterfield Co, VA DB 27:644, 21 Aug 1829).
9) John Puckett's land was to be divided between four children - Francis, Simon [sic, this was mistake for 'Simeon'], William and the child Dorothy was pregnant with, whether a boy or girl. This is the only known mention of Francis and the child Dorothy was pregnant with in 1806; they both must have died without children of their own. In 1823, Simeon Puckett and his wife Stacia sold to Dorothy L Puckett Simeon's interest in the land of his father - "containing by estimation Seventy acres be the same more or less ( it being the moiety of my fathers land, lying & being in the Chesterfield County, which I fell heir to from my fathers last Will & Testament" (Chesterfield Co, VA DB 25:95). Simeon mentioned 70 acres, about half the 147 acres John Puckett was taxed with in 1802. Simeon also mentioned a 'moiety', an old word meaning roughly a half. One of the witnesses to the deed was William M Puckett, Simeon's brother, who would inherit the other half of John Puckett's land. Given that John Puckett's land was split in half, the other two children he willed the land must have died young.
10) Simeon Puckett was dead by 13 Nov 1826, when Stacia remarried William C Wilson. On 11 Feb 1833, Dorothy L Puckett was appointed guardian of "John Puckett and Augustus Cox Puckett orphans of Simeon Puckett" (Chesterfield Co, VA OB 27:655). The boys may have still lived with their mother, and Dorothy was a guardian of their financial affairs.
11) Augustus Cox Puckett went to Kentucky with his grandmother Dorothy L Puckett and uncles Lewis and William M Puckett. Augustus is often counted as a child of Lewis in online trees, but was his nephew. Census records indicate Augustus Cox Puckett had a son named Simeon after his father.
12) John Puckett, son of Simeon, was the John Henry Puckett who married Obedience Susan Archer in Chesterfield Co, VA in 1847; they had a daughter named Dorothy. John H Puckett's middle name 'Henry' from his marriage record, Obedience Archer's middle name 'Susan' from the death certificate of one of her children. John H Puckett may have gone to Kentucky, there was a John H Puckett on the Hickman Co, KY 1844 tax list, but returned to Virginia. In 1847, John H Puckett was in debt and had to sign over land to the Sheriff of Chesterfield Co, VA, the land was described as land 'charged to Simion Puckett', no acreage given (Chesterfield Co, VA DB 37:399).
13) Simeon Puckett may have had other children I am trying to connect.
14) William M Puckett was born circa 1805, and thus very young when his father John Puckett died in 1806. He inherited half his father's land which he and wife Nancy (Hood) sold before moving to Hickman Co, KY. The area they moved to later became Ballard Co, KY, and in an 1867 deed, William M Puckett describes a piece of land he inherited from his mother, "Dorothy L. Puckett mother of said Wm M. Puckett by last Will and Testament bequeathed to said Wm Puckett Sen , her son..." (Ballard Co, KY DB A:71). Note that Dorothy L Puckett left a will in Ballard Co, KY but it was lost along with the other early wills of that county.
15) More on this family later. :)
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