wills

“ It takes two men to make one brother.” – Israel Zangwill

One of the first items of information that we found on the Kimbroughs of Todd County, Kentucky was the will of Meredith Kimbrough, 1794 – 1831. Meredith and his wife, Sarah “Sally” Garth Gaines were married in 1817 in Albemarle County, Virginia soon after the marriage of Thomas Winston Kimbrough and Sally’s sister Susan Garth Gaines. They had no children that survived and Meredith is buried in the Kimbrough Family Cemetery in Hadensville.

Meredith’s will contained some interesting clues to the family of origin of T.W.K., our oldest known ancestor to date.

Transcription: <As to my worldly substance I will and positively ordain that all my just debts be paid it is my desire that my beloved wife, Sally Kimbrough, be and remain in quit and peaseble (sic) possession of the whole of my estate personal and real after the pament (sic) of my just debts for her > benefit during her mortal life or widowhood at the death of my wife I will to my brother’s children out of my estate as follows:

To Meredith G. Kimbrough, son of Thos. W. Kimbrough five hundred dollars.

To William L. Kimbrough, son as aforesaid one hundred dollars

To Meredith Kimbrough son of William Kimbrough one hundred dollars

To James Kimbrough, son of Nelson Kimbrough, one hundred dollars

To Thomas Kimbrough, son of James Kimbrough, one hundred dollars

I will that the balance of my estate be equally divided among by Brother Thos. W. Kimbrough’s children. I appoint my brother Thos. W. Kimbrough, my executor and will that what I have left to my Brother’s children remain in the hands of my executor until they become of Lawful age.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the 25th day of June 1831.

Signed: Meredith D. Kimbrough

So, this tells us that at the time of the writing of this will, Thomas had at least 4 brothers, two sons, and three nephews. Brothers generally means sons of the same mother or father or both, but to complicate matters, can mean a close associate. We are going on the assumption that these named brothers are blood relations as we have so few clues.

Meredith Kimbrough Tombstone sited in the Kimbrough Family Cemetery in Hadensville, Kentucky

Meredith appears to have been quite close to Thomas – they married sisters and Thomas and Susan sold property in Virginia to Meredith for $1. It is believed that Meredith and Sally moved to Kentucky to be near Thomas and Susan, perhaps because he knew he was dying. Sally remarried in 1836 to Anderson Miller. *This post is republished due to computer kerfuffles

In which we are reminded you can’t take it with you

I was lucky enough to spend several days in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library last month. I also got to attend Roots Tech, which was a lot of fun, and I even took the time to attend a couple classes and learned a few things.

While searching at the Library I found the probate file of William Wallace McMurry on Family Search <Tennessee Wills and Probate records, 1779-2008>. William was the 2^nd great grandfather of Robert Landon Kimbrough (1919-2009) Landon and Harry’s late father, and was linked only by family story in our records until this discovery. Robert’s mother was Mary McMurry, daughter of Robert Lee McMurry. Here’s how he is related to WWM:

Reading the probate file created the usual challenges: format, reproduction and handwriting. This, and other documents that I’ve tried to decipher, drove me to buy Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry. When I was able to make my way through the documents I found a wealth of information about the family. William died intestate in 1850 in Dickson County and at that time had 7 named legal heirs. His wife had predeceased him.

As did all the Kentucky/Tennessee ancestors at that time, William owned at least a few slaves and they were offered at his estate sale as was customary. One of the slaves, Patsy, was mentioned by name and the sale included her 2 month old child. She was purchased by William’s son, J.T. The remaining three slaves were sold to others. Perhaps knowing to whom they were sold will assist others in tracing their ancestors. I am sure there are many untold stories.

William Wallace McMurray Jr, eldest son and our ancestor must have taken to heart all the hard work and possible heartache that was entailed in being his father’s executor. He wrote a will on May 7^th 1890 and it was probated in 1893 in Todd County Kentucky. It contained an interesting conditional bequest.

The question remains: was this a good thing, or a bad thing? Was 125 acres and the “William Old Place” more or less than her 1/7^th share of the estate? Family story had it that she was to be “disinherited” if she married Jesse Rollow – she did marry him, by the way – but her brothers got together upon the death of their father and refused to deny her share. More research is needed to figure out what really happened with the land. As far as the marriage went, it appeared to be a happy one and they were married until her death in 1941.

Kimbrough Genealogy

From East to West

The Kimbrough Brothers*

It’s Good to have a Will or Maybe Not

In which we are reminded you can’t take it with you