AMANUENSIS MONDAY ~ The Last Will & Testament of George F. Hall–1837-1896

What does Amanuensis mean?
To put it simply, it means a “person employed to write what another dictates or copy what has been written by another.”

I’ve been writing about my husband’s great granduncle, George F. Hall.  First I wrote about his Civil War Pension and then about how I located his probate record.

Today, I am presenting the transcription of his last will & testament and a couple of gems it contained.

Here is George in his Civil War uniform.  He fought for the north out of units from New York.

Photo used with permission of Brian White

George’s wife Sarah Wilson Hall had died 4 years prior to him on 20 Sep 1892 (date is from her findagrave memorial and I haven’t yet located the death record).

Here are the two pages of George’s will.

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)


HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF PAGE 1 GEORGE’S WILL.

I didn’t transcribe the second page which discusses the death of one of the witnesses.



If George’s wife, Sarah did die on 20 Sep 1892, as her headstone states, then George drew up this will just 9 days after her death.  Sarah was only 49 years old when she died and George just 55 years old at the time of her death.  Maybe her death made him realize that he needed to get his affairs in order.  After all, George had ongoing health issues from his service in the military.

What this document provided me, that I didn’t have before, was the married name of his sister Cornelia and her location in Iowa.  And, the name of a sister that I don’t have listed in my tree, yet.
 
Needless to say, these are gems and will lead to further research on this family.

Probate records are important family documents and usually lead us to more information and to further finds.
 
Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

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