Milly Jones, widow of Henry Jones, passed away 21 November 1877 in Wilson.
She had executed a detailed will in August 1877, directing, among other things, that:
- her son A.W. Jones receive “the shop lot” on Nash Street located beside her residence and measuring twelve by twenty feet;
- the remainder of her land to be sold “to some member of the family” and the proceeds divided equally among her children;
- enough of her personal property be sold to pay off her debts and funeral and the remainder divided among her children by two neutral people;
- and son Kernel M. Jones act as executor.
Kernel [Colonel?] Morris Jones, with his youngest brother’s help, had some immediate tasks to address:
- five dollars to undertakers Wootten & Stevens for rental of a hearse:
- four dollars paid by son A. Wilson Jones to casketmaker Charles H. Darden for a coffin:
- one dollar and thirty-two cents to Anthony Nadal for handles and other hardware for the coffin:
- fifty cents paid to Calvin Blount for digging her grave:
Having carried out his mother’s wishes, in February 1878, K.M. Jones filed with the court an account of the distribution of her estate. After debts, including those above, were paid out of the three hundred dollars secured from the sale of her lot, each child — K. Maurice [Morris] Jones, Mac Jones; Sarah Best, wife of Noah Best; Harry Martin Jones; and A.W. Jones — received just over $42.
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In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: shoemaker Henry Jones, 55; wife Milly, 50; and sons Morris, 19, a bakery worker, and Wilson, 11. [A. Wilson Jones later married — and murdered — Samuel Vick’s sister Nettie Vick.] Daughter Sarah Jones, 15, was listed as a domestic servant in the household of grocer John A. Crofton.
North Carolina Wills and Estates, 1665-1998 [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.