Person:Andrew Reid (13)

Will of Andrew Reid

Will of Andrew Reid Sr.

Sept 20, 1765

In The Name of God Amen. This twentieth day of September 1765, I Andrew Reid of Rockfish in the County of Amherst being very sick and weak in body but of Sound Mind and Memory thanks be to God therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will & Testament.

Principally and first of all I recommend my soul to God who gave it and my body to be buried in a Christian like and decent manner at the discretion of my executors nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God. And touching what worldly estate it hath pleased Almighty God to bless me with I give and dispose thereof in the following manner and form.

Imprimis after discharging my lawful debts & funeral expenses which I allow to be levied off my estate.

I leave the whole of my estate real and personal to my six children; Martha, Agnes, Florence, Sarah, Andrew and Esther to be improved for their mutual benefit until my son Andrew arrives to the age of twenty one years during which time my son Andrew shall have two shares of the neat proceeds provided his conduct be approved by my Executors hereafter mentioned. But in case of contrary behaviour the said executors shall have in their power to take the premises under their inspection for the benefit of the other legatees herein mentioned and appoint an overseer for the same allowing my said son Andrew yearly two pounds currency until the time above mentioned as his share of the Rent.

Item. It is my will that if any of my daughters herein mentioned do marry before the said time she shall have an equal share of the moveable estate as it shall then be valued & two pounds currency per year as their share of rent till the time above said.

Item. It is my will if my said son Andrew die before the age of twenty one years or any of my daughters afore said before the age of eighteen years then the share or shares of such deceasing shall be equally divided among the surviving legatees.

Item. It is my will that when my son Andrew aforesaid arrives to the age of twenty one years the plantation shall be sold and credit given for payment of the same at my executors discretion and the price thereof divided as follows. In the first place my son Andrew shall have one hundred and fifty pounds currency particular & afterwards and equal share with my five daughters aforesaid.

Item. It is my will that my three eldest daughters shall have their choice of three of the best beds now in use with all the furniture now belonging to the same.

Item. It is further my will that as soon as so much money can be raised off said estate that two Negroes shall be purchased for the use of the family.

Item. It is further my will that my beloved friends Thomas Stuart and Robert Weir shall be executors of this my last Will and Testament and I do hereby constitute and appoint them for the said purpose to transact according to the true intent and meaning of this my Last Will and Testament. And now, I do hereby revoke all former wills bequeaths and legacies made by me ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my Last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I do hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written.

(Signed) Andrew Reid

Signed sealed and pronounced in the presence of:

James Reid

John Reid

John Barnett

At a court held for Amherst County at the Court House the Seventh day of October 1765. The Last Will and Testament of Andrew Reid deceased was presented in Court by Thomas Stuart & Robert Weir the executors therein named and proved by the oaths of James Reid, John Reid and John Barnett the witnesses thereto and the said executors was sworn according to law and with William Simpson, Samuel Woods, Alexander Reid Jun’r and Thomas West their securities acknowledged bond in the penalty of One Thousand Pounds and the said will is ordered to be recorded. This is signed by the County Clerk, George Seaton.

Bond posted by the Executors of Andrew Reid’s Last Will & Testament:

Know all men by these presents that we Thomas Stuart, Robert Weir, William Simpson, Samuel Woods, Alexander Reid Jun’r and Thomas West are held and firmly bound to George Stovall, Francis Meriwether, James Dillard and Zachariah Taliaferro Gent. (Gentlemen) Trustees of the Court of Amherst County now setting in the Sum of One thousand pounds to the payment whereof will and truly to be made to the said trustees and their successors. We bind our selves and each of us our and each of our heirs. Executors and Administrators jointly and severally firmly by these presents sealed with our seals this seventh day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty five and in the fifth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord (king) George the third.

The condition of this obligation is such that if the above bound Thomas Stuart and Robert Weir, executors of the Last Will and Testament of Andrew Reid deceased do make at a court held for Amherst County at the Court House the fourth day of August 1766. This inventory and appraisement of the estate of Andrew Reid, deceased was this day returned and ordered to be recorded.

Teste: Edm’d (Edmond) Wilcox, County Clerk

Notes

From "The Cabells and their Kin", by Alexander Brown:

Sarah Reid (daughter of John and wife of Andrew Reid, who died about 1765) was murdered in old Amherst County by a negro man while on her way to a neighbor's. On July 3, 1764, his Majesty's commission of oyer and terminer was produced for the trial of Peter, a negro man belonging to Andrew Reid. The commission was to William Cabell, Jr., presiding justice of the peace, David Crawford, Daniel Burford, Cornelius Thomas, John Rose, and Zacharias Taliaferro, Gentlemen. John Harvie, the king's attorney, informed the court that Peter, a negro man, with force and arms had feloniously murdered Sarah Reid. Peter was led to the bar by James Nevill, the sheriff. He confessed his guilt, and said he had nothing further to say. He was condemned to be hung.

Notes

From "Historic Families of Kentucky" by Thomas Marshall Green -Regional Publishing House, 1959, Originally Published 1889 in Cincinnati:

REID

Among the pioneers of Augusta county, were three brothers, of Scottish extraction, who came from the County Down, in Ireland, where they were born - Thomas, John and Andrew Reid.

The third brother, Andrew Reid, Sr., had, among others, a son, Andrew Reid, Jr., who married Sarah, daughter of his uncle, Colonel John Reid, Sr., and Martha Nisbet, and the widow of his uncle Thomas Reid's son, Nathan. This Andrew Reid, Jr., and Sarah Reid, had six children.

One of their sons was General Andrew Reid, of Rockbridge, who married Magdalen McDowell, twin-sister of the first wife of Judge Caleb Wallace, and daughter of Judge Samuel McDowell and Mary McClung.

One of the daughters of Andrew Reid, Jr., and Sarah, was Agnes Ann Reid, who married William Alexander, was the mother of Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Princeton. Their residence stood on the ground now occupied by the residence of the late General Robert E. Lee, in Lexington, Virginia, and in which General Custis Lee now resides.

A third daughter, Flora, married John Lyle; and Rev. John Lyle, who taught a female seminary at Paris, and established the "Citizen," was one of their sons. This latter married the widow Lapsley, whose maiden name was Irvine, and who was a sister of the wives of Samuel McDowell, of Mercer, and Colonel Joseph McDowell, of Danville. One of their sons was John Lyle, of Boyle county, who also married an Irvine.

The fifth child of Andrew Reid, Jr., and Sarah, was Esther Reid, who married John Cummings, and was the mother of Elizabeth Cummings, the wife of Andrew McKnight.

Another daughter of Andrew Reid, Jr., and Sarah-also named Sarah Reid-married Joseph Alexander, the fourth son of Archibald Alexander and Margaret Parks, brother of William Alexander (who married her sister, Agnes Ann Reid), and uncle of the great preacher and theologian. Sarah Reid, the wife of Andrew, Jr., in 1766, was murdered, and her body thrown into a creek, by a negro whom she had reproved. Andrew, son of William Alexander and Agnes Ann Reid-brother of Dr. Archibald-married Anne Aylett, and their fifth child, Evaline, was the wife of the distinguished General Samuel McDowell Moore, referred to on a previous page.

Andrew McKnight and Elizabeth Cummings had a son born to them in Virginia, James, who married a Miss Paxton in that state. When this child was an infant, they removed to Woodford county, Kentucky, where they bought and lived upon a farm, and where their other children were born. That they were highly respected by all was but natural. For their high character, strong good sense, and quick-witted intelligence, they were honored by suchmen as Dr. Louis Marshall, and others, who could appreciate their worth.

The REIDS AND MOORES The two eldest children of Judge Samuel McDowell and Mary McClung, born October 9, 1755, were twin sisters, Sarah and Magdalen. The former married Caleb Wallace, a graduate of Princeton-a Presbyterian minister at the time of the marriage. She died soon, and without issue. Mr. Wallace abandoned the ministry, became a successful lawyer, and was one of the first judges of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Magdalen married Andrew Reid. Their oldest daughter, Sarah married Andrew Moore, whose father, also names Andrew, was a soldier in the French and Indian War. The son distinguished himself for gallantry at Point Pleasant.

General Andrew Moore, as he was designated, was a member of Congress from the Lexington, Virginia, district from 1789 to 1997; he was re-elected in 1804, and that same year was elected to the United States Senate, filling the place until 1809. He died in 1821. His oldest son was a member of Congress from 1833 to 1835; was a member of the convention that passed the ordinance of secession in 1861, against which he voted. Then a very old man, the efforts of Henry A. Wise to dragoon him into the support of secession met with humiliating failure. Afterward, he served in the Confederate army. His wife was Evelyn, daughter of William Alexander, of Rockbridge. Their daughter, Sallie Moore, married her cousin, John Harvey Moore. The second son of General Andrew Moore and Sarah Reid was David E.Moore, a lawyer of high standing in Lexington, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Harvey, a daughter of Matthew Harvey and sister of Mrs. Wm. A McDowell, and had by her eight children; of whom his son and namesake, David E. Moore, is a prominent member of the bar of Rockbridge. Virginia married Tedford Barclay, and Elizabeth is the wife of the scholarly Prof. Alexander Nelson.

A daughter of Andrew Reid and Magdalen McDowell married a Mr. McCampbell, and their daughter married a Venable, of a family distinguished in Virginia for literary attainments.

The second and third daughters of Andrew Reid and Magdalen McDowell also married members of the Venable family.

The fourth daughter married Judge Abraham Smith, of Rockbridge. The fifth daughter of Andrew Reid and Magdalen McDowell, married Major John Alexander, of Lexington, Virginia. Their son, John Alexander, is a lawyer of ability, and a citizen of prominence in Lexington, and their daughter, Agnes, was the wife of Rev. Beverly Tucker Lacey, the noted Presbyterian divine.

The only son of Andrew Reid and Magdalen McDowell, was Dr. Samuel McDowell Reid, a skillful and distinguished physician of Lexington. He married a Miss Hare, and his daughters married, respectively, Prof. James White and Colonel John S. H. Ross. His son, bearing his own name, is a wealthy and reputable citizen of Rockbridge."