Person:Nicholas Carpenter (5)

Will Transcript

WILL OF NICHOLAS CARPENTER --- 1791

In the name of God Amen, I, Nicholas Carpenter of Harrison County and state of Virginia, being in perfect health and memory, thanks be to God, 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 and testament.

That is to say principle and first of all i give and recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave it and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian burial at the decision of my executors to be hereafter named, nothing doubting but at the general resurrection that I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God and as trusting such world estate wherewith has pleased God to bestow with in this life.

I give and demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form:

First of all my will is that all my just and lawful debts be paid and also my will is that my beloved wife whall have 3 horses and colts, the old horse and black mare and colt., and 13 cattle and 14 sheep and all of my household furniture; also my will is that my home place be divided in 3 parts that is beginning at the river opposite a large forkett Chestnut tree thence 100 yards above the house of Wolf, hence straight to the run, thence up the run, thence up said run to the low gap at the head of the allience hollows to the back chestnut tree at the beginning and all that part i bequeath to my son, David; also my will that David should have a sorrell horse known by the name as his horse.

Also my will is that my son John shall have all the land that lieth up the river about the mouth of Pring Run and up the said run to the road at the smithshop thence along the said road to the head of it.

My land joining Davidson's at the schoolhouse-- including all that string of bottom -- and so down the river to begin and my will is that all that residue of the said place to be my beloved wife's third during her life and after her death to my son Nicholas for his part and my will is that 243 acres that lieth on middle fork of 10 mile creek to be my son Christopher's and 547 acres lying on the waters of limestone to be my son Joseph's and my will that David and John, my 2 sons shall divide the Smithwork equal between them and if either of the 2 brothers should die without issue their part to be equally between surviving brothers and my will to that after all my lawful debts are paid what money is left to be divided among my daughters.

I also appoint my trusty friend William Haymond and John Wade Loffurrow and Alexander Rowand join with my wife -- my lawful executors and do revoke all former wills and pronounce this my last will and testament.

(Signed) Nicholas Carpenter ( seal )

Signed and published and declared by the said Nicholas Carpenter as last will and testament in presence of each of their subsribed names:

William haymond, Joseph Gregory, Joseph Shelton

Monday 11-28-1791 -- we the subsribors being appointed by court of Harrison County to appraise the personal essate of nicholas Carpenter deceased have met and being duly sworn do appraise:

Among the numerous articles of livestock, farming tools, furniture, and smith tools, here are a few of the many being appraised in English monies, allowing they are still using that money.

1 black calf--9 shilling

1 dutch oven ---8 shilling

1 red calf --10 shilling

1 new anvil-----6 pound 8 shilling

3 walnut chair --6 shilling

1 log chain ----12 shilling

1 spinning wheel -15 shilling

for a total of 115 pounds and 12 shilling -- Then they met and went over his 3 smith books for a total owed the estate in the merchant book to 26 pounds 19 shilling 5 pence. A total owed the estate of 149 pounds 10 shilling 11 1/2 pence.

[Harrison County, West Virginia Will book 1, 1788-1794. Courthouse].

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source).

   http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/23077187/person/12070450710

2.   .

   NICHOLAS CARPENTER
   Submitted by: Sandra Carpenter Samoyedny
   5th great-granddaughter
   
   Nicholas Carpenter was head of one of the pioneering families to settle in what is now known as present-day Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia. Nicholas Carpenter was a pioneer in many respects when he came to West Virginia in the later part of the 1700s. He was a gunsmith, blacksmith, hunter, merchant, trader and raised cattle. He was appointed Sheriff, Coroner and one of the Commissioners of the Harrison County Court. In his later years he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Randolph Academy.
   There are several areas in Harrison County that bare his name, such as: “Carpenter Hallow” where he has a hunting camp that is near present day Salem, just outside of the city of Clarksburg. He was a hunter of buffalo, elk, deer and other wild game. This camp was also used as a station between Clarksburg and the Ohio River for weary travelers seeking shelter and safety from the Indians. This area was also tamed by Carpenter, who with his sons cleared a trail for driving cattle to the eastern markets in Ohio. Mr. Carpenter raised his cattle to be sold to the Army and other markets, and this trail is roughly the path of what is now known as U. S. Highway 50.
   
   His name appears on the first personal property tax list for Harrison County in 1785. He was appointed to a commission to cut a trail for a road on or near the mouth of the Little Kanawha River in present day Parkersburg. On January 7, 1789 he was one of several men who voted from Harrison County in the first presidential election. He sat on the jury of the first meeting of a Superior Court for Virginia that included Harrison, Monongalia and Randolph Counties.
   
   On Oct 4, 1791 he and several men including one of his young sons were taking a drove to cattle to Ohio were attacked and massacred on a placed now referred to as “Carpenter’s Run”. An Indian war party led by Chief Tecumseh. This story repeated several times in print and according to the legends, Carpenter had befriended Tecumseh as a child and as an act of kindness towards him he fixed the future great Chief’s rifle. After recognizing his old friend, Tecumseh ordered that Nicholas and his son not be scalped. He ordered that the Nicholas be wrapped in a blanket, new moccasins be placed on his feet and as a sign of great respect his rifle was to be buried with him. The bodies of he and his young son Nicholas Jr. were buried in present day Wood County along the bank of the Ohio River.
   
   Nicholas and wife Mary Wolfe Carpenter raised thirteen children in the West Virginia wilderness. They were honest hard working people who weren’t afraid to venture out into a land unknown. With hard work they prospered and left a legacy for us the generations who were to follow.
   
   This is but one of hundreds of stories of brave pioneers who were instrumental in the settlement of the State of West Virginia. Nicholas descended from Swiss/German immigrants who came from Europe in search of a better life and he left this world making it a better place for all who followed his path.
   
   http://www.wvgenweb.org/harrison/ncarp.html

3.   Haymond, Henry. History of Harrison County, West Virginia: from earliest days of northwestern Virginia to the present. (Morgantown, West Virginia: Acme Publishing, 1910).

   "In the month of September, 1791, Nicholas Carpenter set off from Clarksburg for Marietta with a drove of cattle to sell to the settlers in that vicinity and the soldiers of Fort Harmar, and after several days travel, encamped near the Ohio River for the night.
   Early the next morning, while breaking camp, the drovers were fired upon by a party of Indians, killing one and wounding another of the party. The remainder endeavored to save themselves by flight, but Carpenter, being a cripple by reason of a wound received some years before, plunged into a pond of water, where he fondly hoped he would escape observation, but both he and his son, who had likewise sought security there, were discovered, tomahawked and scalped."