Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

EVIN BRYANT

Will

Recorded E Page 1




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                      Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

In the name of God, amen.

I EVIN BRYANT being in a low state of health but of sound mind and memory do
make this my last will and testament in the following manner, to wit:

I give and bequeath EVIN BRYANT, WILLIAM BRYANT, MARY BRYANT, and ELIZABETH
BRYANT, sons and daughters of my brother JOHN BRYANT, deceased, the sum of
five shillings each.

I give and bequeath unto my sister DELILA WOODARD, wife of NOAH WOODARD, the
sum of five shillings.

I give and bequeath unto my sister NANCY JONES, wife of JESSE JONES the sum
of five shillings.

My will and desire is that my executors sell my two tracts of land lying on
the North side of Tar River, also that they sell my negro man ABRAHAM and all
my personal property at public sale on a credit of twelve months and after
paying the different legatees and all my just debts, I give and bequeath the
whole of the remainder part of my property, which will be in cash, to my
brother WILLIAM BRYANT and my niece POLLY COFFIELD, daughter of THOMAS
COFFIELD, to be equally divided between them, their heirs & assigns.

I constitute and appoint my friend WHITMELL BELL and LAURENCE O’BRYAN
executors to this my last will and testament.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my & seal this 27 day of August,
one thousand eight hundred & eight.

EVIN BRYANT {seal}

Signed & acknowledged in the presence of

JAMES PEEL {his X mark}
WILLIS PEEL




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                      Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

Edgecombe County

November Court 1810

The within last will & testament of EVIN BRYANT deceased was exhibited in
open court for probate and was duly proven by the oaths of JAMES PEAL and
WILLIS PEAL the two subscribing witnesses thereto, and WHITMELL BELL, one of
the executors therein named was at the same time qualified thereto in due
form of law. On motion ordered that the same be certified and the will
recorded.

Test

E. HALL, CC




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                      Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

To The Honorable the judge of the court of equity for the county of
Edgecombe.

The bill of complaint of WILLS DRAUGHON, ARCHIBALD PITT and POLLY his wife of
the county Edgecombe, and WILLIAM BRYANT of the county of Nash; complaints
against with WHITMEL BELL the defendant.

Humbly complaining shew unto your Honors you orator, the aforesaid WILLS
DRAUGHON, ARCHIBALD and POLLY PITT, & WILLIAM BRYANT, that one Evan Bryant,
being sicked in fee simple of certain lands, situate in the county of
Edgecome, made his last will and testament in writing, which was duly proven
in the court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Edgecombe County, at the
November session 1810, and WHITMELL BELL who was thereby constituted
executor, qualified as such and took upon himself the burden of its execution
and LAUREN O’BRYAN was also nominated a executor, did not qualify, and is
since dead, leaving the said WHITMEL surviving her.

The testator, by his said will, after giving several small pecuniary
legacies, all of which have been satisfied, devices as follows:

    “My will and desire is that my executors sell my two tracts of land
    lying on the North side of Tar River, also that they sell my negro
    man ABRAHAM and all my personal property at public sale on a credit
    of twelve months and after paying the different legatees and all my
    just debts, I give and bequeath the whole of the remainder part of
    my property, which will be in cash, to my brother WILLIAM BRYANT and
    my niece POLLY COFFIELD, daughter of THOMAS COFFIELD, to be equally
    divided between them, their heirs & assigns.”

All which will fully appear before being had to the said will, a true copy
whereof in hereunto annexed, which your orator prays may be received as a
part of their bill.

Your orator WILLIAM BRYANT and your orator POLLY PITT, who has intermarried
with your orator ARCHIBALD, are the persons designated by the names of
WILLIAM BRYANT and POLLY COFFIELD in said will.

And your orator, further complaining, shew unto your Honors that one of the
tracts of land described to be sold was part of a patent granted on the 20th
of October 1754 by the Earl of Granville to THOMAS BRYANT, the father of the
testator. The said patentee sold a part of the said land to one JAMES
RICHARDSON, who sold to one ARTHUR MOON, who conveyed to JOSHUA BELL on the
22nd of March 1762 by the following description:




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                      Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

    “220 Acres.

    Beginning at a White Oak, hir own corner, running her line to an
    agreed line between THOMAS BRYANT and JAMES RICHARDSON; then along
    the agreed line to my corner Red Oak joining Savages fence; then
    along my line to a Sweet Gum, BENJAMIN HART's corner; then along his
    line to the beginning.”


And the said tract of land came by device or conveyance from the said JOSHUA
to the said WHITMEL, his son. The balance of the said tract remains and the
said THOMAS, the patentee, and came from him to the aforesaid EVIN.

And your orator shew, unto your Honor, that the said WHITMEL, acting under
the power given him by the said will, after having sold one tract, offered at
public sale to the highest bidder all the residue of land owned by said EVIN,
the purchaser to pay according to the quantity, when it should be
ascertained.

And your orator WILLS bid for the same the sum of six dollars and fifteen
cents for acre, which being the highest bid, he became the purchaser thereof
and a survey being made, according to the direction of the said WHITMEL, he
executed a deed to your orator WILLS for 168 Acres which appeared to be the
quantity held by said EVIN, according to the survey made under the direction
of said WHITMEL, which your orator, who had then no knowledge of the real
boundaries of the land, believed to be correct.

By the boundaries of the land held by said WHITMEL, as described with deeds
of conveyance under which he claims it appears that the lands were divided
from those of said EVIN, by an agreed line which had been established between
BRYANT, the patentee, and RICHARDSON, under whom the defendant claims the
dividing line in the deed of conveyance from said WHITMEL to your orator
WILLS is described, as follows:

    “a hickory, WHITMEL BELL’s corner, near the corner of an old field
    then S 86 E 72 poles to a small Black Gum in a branch; then down the
    branch 38 poles to an Ash; then 16 poles to another Ash; then 20
    polls to a line Oak; then 26 poles to another line Oak; then 21
    poles to a Gum; then 24 poles to a Water Oak; then 14 polls to a
    [blank] in a pond.”

And this boundary was then shown and declared to be the correct one by the
said with WHITMEL; but it was not then a marked line and was in no wise
proved to be the boundary, but by the declaration of the said WHITMEL, in
which your orator WILLS placed implicit confidence.




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                      Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

But your orators have since discovered that the true line is at another place
and that your orator WILLS is, by his bargain, entitled to a conveyance of
about 40 acres of land and more from said WHITMEL. And your other orators,
of course, are entitled to the price thereof, when they said WHITMEL shall
execute the contract by making a conveyance pursuant to the trust reported in
him.

But now so it is, may it please your Honor, that the said WHITMEL willing to
appropriate to himself the property of his testator, in violation of his
trust, and of the sale made under it, although repeatedly requested by your
orator WILLS to convey to him up to the true boundary and to recover the
purchaser money, therefore, refuses to rectify the error, pretending
sometimes that the said EVIN had no title to any of the said lands. At other
times that the line to which he conveyed was the correct one. At other times
that he only sold to the line to which he conveyed. Whereas the said WHITMEL
well knows that the said land did belong to the said EVIN, that he was in
possession thereof, as owner, for more than thirty years, and that he, the
said WHITMEL hath in his own possession the measurements of the land of the
said EVIN’s estate, and knows equally well that he sold to your orator WILLS
all the land which the said EVIN held in that tract. And your orator charges
that the said WHITMEL well knows where they correct boundary is and that he
knows that the line which he caused to be marked, after the hiring, when he
conveyed to your orator WILLS, is not the correct line.

All which acting's and doings of the said WHITMEL are contrary to equity and
good conscience and tend to the injury of your orator.

In tender consideration of the premises and to the end that the said WHITMEL
may upon his corporal oath, full, true and perfect answer make to all and
singular the previous as if the same were repeated & he thereunto specially
interrogated, and where, especially, that he set forth and discover the title
of the said EVIN, and his own title, whether an agreed line, as aforesaid, is
not the dividing line between their respective lands. Whether that line is
the one run by his direction, by the surveyor, and by which he conveyed to
your orator WILLS. How and by what means he discovered and knows that to be
the correct boundary, and by what persons, evidence, or documents can he
established the same. Whether the said line was ever run, until run by his
direction, and if so on what occasion and for what purpose. Whether he does
not know it is not the correct dividing line. Whether he has any knowledge,
suspicion, information, or reason to think the true line is in another place,
and if to where the same is. Whether any tree of the line which he may have
reason to believe the the tree and is now wanders, and if, what kind of tree
it is, where it stands, and by what mark it may be distinguished. Whether,
if any, which once stood, are no longer standing, when did they stand.
whether from his own knowledge, from hearsay, tradition or any other means he
knows, has heard, discovered, or had reason to think, or suspect, the true
line to be in a different place then when he conveyed to - and that the said
WHITMEL maybe decreed to convey to your orator WILLS, and to recover & pay
over the purchase money to your other orators.




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                      Will, NC, Edgecombe, Evin BRYANT

May it please your Honors, to grant your [illegible] & c.




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