I, Isaac McCoy, Missionary to the North American
Indians, now in Westport, Jackson County, Missouri, being
in common health and in the exercise of ordinary soundness
of mind and judgement, do make this my last will and testament:
viz:
1st.
I will and bequeath to my sons John Calvin McCoy
and Isaac McCoy, and to my daughters Delilah
McCoy Lykins, Christiana McCoy Ward, and Eleanor
McCoy, and to the heirs of my daughter Sara McCoy
Givens, each a large bible with marginal references
and to each Butterworth's Concordance, the whole to be purchased
out of my movable property now in my possession, and to
each cash, which added to the value of the aforementioned
books, shall make the amount bequeathed to each equal to
ten dollars; these books I bequeath, not on account of their
pecuniary value, but as indicating a father's regard for
his children and the earnestness which he would recommend
to them the perusal of the scriptures.
2nd.
I will and bequeath to my daughter Eleanor McCoy
fifty dollars, I having heretofore given to my daughter
Christiana McCoy Ward a similar sum at her marriage,
and having given to my daughter Delilah McCoy Lykins
and to my daughter Sarah McCoy Givens, deceased,
each a little over fifty dollars; my movable property consists
of three horses, a few cattle, and swine and such amount
of farming utensils, household and kitchen furniture, etc.
as is sufficient for our current convenience in the moderate
style of our living; the movable property I have procured
out of my earnings in the service of the United States,
and, with the exception of the pieces heretofore given to
my daughters, as before stated; its is the whole amount
which I have saved and applied to private purposes.
3rd.
I will and bequeath the whole of my movable property
mentioned in the preceding paragraph to my wife Christiana
McCoy, except so much as may be necessary to pay my
past debts and to pay pieces above bequeathed to my sons
and daughters and to pay my funeral expenses; the residue
of my property consists of four tracts of land containing
in the whole a little over five hundred acres and a female
salve named Chainy; the tracts of land and slave are in
part of the proceeds of property owned by me and my wife
before we became missionaries, and in part from an amount
left in my hands by my son Rice at his deceased. No part
of the property having come into my possession in any other
way than the two sources above mentioned. I have ever considered
it as property belonging to my family and that I could no
in justice to them consume it in paying the cost of living.
4th.
I will and bequeath the whole of the above mentioned
four tracts of land, containing in the whole a little over
five hundred acres to my wife Christiana McCoy; the
female slave above mentioned was purchased by me on the
13th day of July 1835, and I paid for her four hundred and
fifteen dollars. She had been sold by her late owner and
appeared to designed for the New Orleans slave market. She
and her husband entreated me, with many tears, to remember
and prevent her being torn from a husband and many children.
The appeal was too affecting to be resisted. I bought her
from motives of humanity; also, I believe, to the gratification
of my neighbors and of my missionary brethren, all appearing
to be deeply affected with the prospect of everlasting separation
of the poor Negro family. I have ever been averse to holding
a slave as property, and I did not promise to do more that
to advance the money for her to prevent her being sent to
the south until she could find some suitable person for
a master near to her husband and children; by law she is
my property at this time, and
5th.
I will and bequeath the above mentioned female
slave Chainy to remain the property of my wife Christiana
McCoy until she, the said Chainy, shall by her
service, reckoned at the usual hire of female slaves in
this country under circumstances similar to those which
attent her during her servitude, remmerate the said Christiana
McCoy or her heirs, for the four hundred and fifteen
dollars I paid for her, with six percent interest, and then
she, the said female slave Chainy, shall become free
from bondage.
6th.
I will and bequeath that if the above mentioned
female slave Chainy shall during the term of her
slavery bear a child or children, then the said off-spring
shall be instructed to read with facility before reaching
the age of twenty-seven years, and then he shall go free
from bondage, and if a female, she shall remain a slave
until she arrives at the age of twenty-four years and then
shall go free from bondage, and all the descendants of said
female slave Chainy to the latest generation, who
shall be born in slavery, shall be instructed to read with
facility before arriving at the age of twenty years, and
all females shall go free from bondage at the age of twenty-four
years. It being hereby directed that no male descendant
of said female slave shall so remain slavery after reaching
the age of twenty-seven years and that no female descendant
of said slave Chainy shall remain a slave after reaching
the age of twenty-four.
My daughter Nancy Judson
McCoy is mentally and physically incapable of taking
care of herself, her mind and the proper use of her limbs
were impaired, we believe, by a nervous fever since we,
her parents, became missionaries; previously she appeared
to possess common activity of body and sprightliness of
mind; for her future comfort I feel the deepest solicitude
and to provide for her future comfort is one reason which
induces me to leave most of my property to my wife, believing
that she will apply it for the use and benefit of our afflicted
daughter, Nancy Judson McCoy, except insomuch as
will be necessary for her own comfort and the comfort and
education of out tow minor children Isaac and Eleanor
during the minority.
7th.
I will and bequeath that should my wife Christiana McCoy
died without directing how the property then in her
possession shall be disposed of, such property, excepting
so much as shall be necessary for the comfort and education
of my children Isaac and Eleanor during their minority,
shall be applied to the use and comfort of my said daughter
Nancy Judson McCoy, in the manner that shell be most
productive of benefit for her.
8th.
I will and bequeath that all property that is
or shall become mine by heirship or otherwise, shall become
the property of my wife Christiana McCoy. I desire
that the Journal of the Missions and all other papers and
such manuscripts and books as I have written, together will
other books in my possession, which in some degree embrace
subject relating to the Indians, be safely kept together
and presented to the care, first, of my wife, and afterwards
to the eldest of family descendants, excepting as careful
persons under a sufficient pledge for safe keeping and return,
be allowed them for laudable purpose.
I desire, if it can be done
without needless expense, that means to be taken to perpetuate
the recollection of the places of the graves of my deceased
children Mahal Elizabeth, Maria Slaughter, Joseph and
his infant brother Charles Rice and Sarah.
For the execution of this
my last will and testament I hereby appoint as executrix
my wife Christiana McCoy and as my executors Johnston
Lykins and John Calvin McCoy. My first care is for
my family, my second is for the Indians; for both I desire
to labor while I live and to pray while I am dying.
| Westport,
Jackson, Missouri, July 30th, 1835 |
|
Isaac
McCoy
Attest
Robert Simmerwell
Jotham Meeker |
