Time Line for Crossley Family Named in Lewis Weathersby's Will

Pleasant Grove M.B. Church
Crossley Family's Church
Smithdale, Amite County, Mississippi

1843 Jul 05 - Lewis Weathersby's will was signed on this date bequeathing the slave family in trust to his son Lodwick Weathersby. Thomas and his wife Lucy and their children Matilda, Sylvester, Andrew, and Dicey were to be given land, house and other provisions. The couple two daughters, Matilda and Dicy, were to be purchased by their parents for $300 each so they could tend to their parents in their old age.

Lewis' sons Lodwick Weathersby and Hatton Weathersby, and friend James M Smiley were appointed executors of his will.

16 Sep 1843 - Lewis Weathersby died.

1843 Nov- Lodwick Weathersby died.

1846 Mar 26 - Lodwick's widow Elphanie Obier married John Martin. Elphanie and John became guardians of the minor children of Elphanie and Lodwick.

1846-1847 - Lodwick's siblings, with the exception of Hatton, asked that the Negroes remaining in their father's estate be sold. Various petitions were presented to the courts concerning the property of their father Lewis Weathersby.

Hatton Weathersby, the guardian of the slave family, tried to have his father's wishes fulfilled but lost in the courts because he could not prove meritorious service. The section of Lewis Weathersby's will concerning the slave family would not be executed.

1849 - The six slaves who were to be freed were now a part of the estate of Lodwick Weathersby who had died without a will. Lodwick's daughter Missouri Ann and her husband James R Godbold complained how her mother and her mother's new husband had handled her father's estate. Missouri wanted her father's estate divided among his children.

The Crossley family were separated into lots to be given to Lodwick's children. Yellow Thomas and his wife yellow Lucy were given to Virginia Ann; yellow Sylvester went to Missouri Ann; yellow Andrew, Matilda, Dicey, and Dicey's child Leland were given to Solomon C Weathersby.

1855 - Virginia Ann Weathersby died without a will. The court divided her estate, which included Thomas and Lucy who were described as Old Tom and Old Lucy valued at $500 together. Thomas and Lucy were given to Virginia's brother William Weathersby.

Oct 1865 - Sylvester (Thomas and Lucy's son) and his wife Louisa and their son Andrew were named in the Freedmen Bureau Labor Contract on the Woodside Plantation of James and Missouri Weathersby Godbold.

1870 - The Crossley family was living in Summit, Lincoln County, MS.

SOURCE
A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your African American Roots
by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom
The Slaves of Liberty, Freedom in Amite County, Mississippi 1820-1868
by Dale Edwyna Smith
Amite County Chancery Court Records, Case Number: 4588, Lewis Weathersby
Amite County Chancery Court Records, Case Number: 4598, Virginia Ann Weathersby
Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contract of James R Godbold
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
National Archives
Photograph Courtesy of Nathaniel Thomas

The Will of Lewis Weathersby 1843

Amite County Courthouse
Courtesy of J Stephen Conn, on Flickr

The ancestors of my Crossley cousins were bequeathed a quasi freedom, land and provisions in the 1843 will of Lewis Weathersby. The Weathersby heirs were not thrilled with this provision in the will.

Extraction of Lewis Weathersby Will Pertaining to the Crossley Slaves

In the name of God Amen I Lewis Weathersby of the County of Amite and State of Mississippi being of sound mind and disposing memory do make ordain and publish this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills and codicils by me made...

15th I give and bequeath to my son Lodwick L Weathersby my faithful servants Thomas and his wife Lucy and their children Matilda, Sylvester, Andrew and Dicy in trust and under the following conditions, "to wit" in as much as the said Thomas and Lucy have served me for several years with great fidelity, it is my earnest desire and I do hereby enjoin it upon my said son Lodwick L Weathersby and that he enjoin it upon his heirs executors and administrators to make the said Slaves Thomas and Lucy as comfortable in life as possible, that he furnish them and their children with a house separate from others, that he provide a horse, farming tools, a small tract of land for their separate use, and that they have suitable time to work the same, and he attend to the sale of their little crops, furnish them with a cow for milk, and two hundred pounds of sugar, and one hundred pounds of coffee yearly, and that in consideration of these things, he require of them reasonable service and should the said slaves Thomas and Lucy at any time be able to raise a sum of money sufficient to compensate said Lodwick Weathersby say three hundred dollars for each, for the services of their daughters, Matilda and Dicy These he shall give to the said Matilda and Dicy to said Thomas and Lucy to serve and comfort, them in their old age.

SOURCES
Amite County Will Records 1818-1848, Vol 1, Pages 248-252, Microfilm Number: 6217
Microfilm found at Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Case Study of the Crossley Family