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Adam
McKee Will and Estate Papers
ADAM McKEE drew up his will 13 July 1805 and it was probated 5 Jan 1807. The text of his will (see photocopy of handwriten document) was as follows:
State
of South Carolina, Abbeville District
In the Name of God Amen -- ADAM McKEE of the State and district aforesaid
being weak
in Body but of a Sound Mind and Knowing that I must Shortly go the way
of all flesh, do make and Order this my last will and Testament that is
to Say I give and Recommend my Soul
to the hands of Almighty God that give it and my
body. I recommend
to the
Earth to be buried in a decent manner at the discretion
of my
Executors and a Touching
Worldly Estate after Defraying my Funeral expenses
and discherg my Just debts
if Sutch there be, it is my Will that the remainder be dispars'd of in the
following Manner.
To my
Beloved Wife
JEAN McKEE
I bequeath
all my Estate - real and personal with
the Tract
of land
I last Survey'd except Two
Dollers to my daughter MARGRET's Children.
ITEM I bequeath to my
beloved Daughter GRISSEL Two dollars.
ITEM I bequeath to my
Beloved Son MICHAEL two dollars,
ITEM I bequeath to my
beloved son ADAM two dollars
ITEM I bequeath to my
beloved daughter JEAN LINDSEY two Dollars;
ITEM I bequeath to my
beloved Son ELIEZER two dollars
I bequeath to my beloved Son JOHN One hors and Saddel,
ITEM I bequeath to my
beloved Daughter MARY one hors and Saddel,
ITEM I bequeath to my
beloved Son WILLEAM SEATH one horse and Saddel
Likewise the Tract of land I now live on together with Two tracts Lying
along Side of it one of one hundred and One of forty fore ecres only I will that
my wife Shall --- her living off Said WILLIAM SEATH McKEE above Mentioned
portion.
I will that nothing be Sold by way of Vandue.
In carry this my last will and Testament into effect I appoint my beloved
wife JEAN
McKEE Executor and my beloved Sons MICHEAL and ADAM McKEE Executors
in
testimony whereof I have
hereinto Set my hand this 13th day of July in the Year of Our lord 1805.
Signed Sealed and Delivered in presents of us --
WILLIAM McKEE
his
JOSEPH HARRISS
ADAM x
McKEE L.S.
JAMES McKEE
mark
Proved before ANDREW
HAMILTON, Ordinary
of Abbeville District on the fifth
day January 1807.
Inventory of Estate
The inventory of Adam McKee's estate was certified on the 30th day of January 1807 by Hugh Dickson (minister of Greenwood Presbyterian Church), Robert Wardlaw, John Dickson (Adam's nephew) and James McKee.(son of Thomas McKee)
1 Lot Pewter
$5.00
1 Sorrel Colt
$15.00
Lot Tin Ware
0.75
1 Sorrel Mare (Aged)
15.00
Lot Delph Ware
2.00
1 Sorrel Horse (Aged)
15.00
Coffee Mill
0.50
1 Iron Gray Colt
50.00
Glass Ware
1.00
1 Black Mare
70.00
Loom & furniture
5.25
12 Sheep
12.00
Pots, ovens & furniture
7.50
9 Geese
4.50
Chain & pole
1.00
10 Ducks
2.50
3
Shovel Ploughs
3.50
1 Mattock
1.00
Double Trees & gears
4.00
2 Falling Axes
2.50
Riding Chair & Harness
25.00
1 Bunded Cow & Calf 10.00
Lot Chairs
5.75
5 Cows @ 9 dollars ea 45.00
1 Chest & Small Box
1.50
2 Small Steers
8.00
1 Bed & furniture with Bedstead 25.00
6 Year old Calves
9.00
1 ditto
20.00
25 Hogs
50.00
1 Dining Table
5.00
1 Still
38.50
1 Spinning Wheel & Reels
2.00
3 Hives Bees
4.50
Barrell & Kegs
2.00
1 Ladies Saddle
12.00
Seur?
0.50
2 Jugs
1.50
1 Bay Colt
20.00
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From the listing of furniture, we can see that by todays standards the
Adam McKee family lived quite simply. They
probably had at most two rooms and a lean-to kitchen or may have put everything
into a one room cabin. I suspect
there was a lean to kitchen from the listing of the dinner ware first followed
by some farming & riding equipment (which would have been stored outside)
before continuing with the living/dining area furniture.
Customarily in taking household inventories, they would start at one end
and work their way through without hopskotching back and forth.
Keeping in mind that there were still two sons and a daughter still at
home life with just two beds probably meant that somebody slept on the floor.
With plenty of down available from their geese and ducks you can picture
them settling onto a soft mattress at the end of a hard day.
But lots of folks lived worse. Having
pewter ware was an object of pride among early settlers and Jean undoubtedly
took great pleasure in having both pewterware and delph ware in addition to the
tin ware used for "every day". Having
a coffee mill tells us that there was enough commerce to bring coffee beans to
the SC highlands and the McKee's enjoyed a casual cup of coffee just as my McKee
grandparents did during this past century.
At $20 the dining table perhaps wasn't fancy but it was adequate.
Then it was out to the barn The
black mare and iron gray colt were the pride of the family but they probably had
lots of memories attached to the "aged" mare and horse.
The Ladies saddle listed near the end of the inventory suggests that it
was out in the barn rather than hung with the other tack which likely was kept
at the back end of the house, probably on a porch or beneath an overhang.
We find no mention of wagons or carts and definitely the ladies as well
as the fellows traversed the countryside on horseback.
Lack of mention of any rifles or handguns leads me to believe that these
were already passed down to the boys as they attained their majority.
In the pioneer environment it would be hard to feature there not being
one or more rifles in the family, particularly considering that Adam had been a
militiaman a few decades earlier. If
we accept ca.1732 as Adam's birthdate, assuming he was a couple years older than
his brother, he would have been about 70 years old and likely had turned most of
the reins over to his children. From
sequence of census listing as well as property descriptions it appears that Adam
Jr lived on an adjacent farm. There
is a now a pond on the farm and of course Long Cane runs alongside so the
presence of the ducks and geese is a natural. We might wonder whether they were domesticated wildfowl or
the white variety common nowadays. In
either event this would have been a source of eggs for breakfast and an
occasional delicacy. They had
steers and hogs to provide beef and pork. Five cows would have provided plenty
of milk for home use with some to sell. The
shovel ploughs, double trees, etc tells us that they were active tillers of the
soil as well as raising stock but the inventory does not suggest just what crops
were raised. Noting that Adam's
brother had slaves and Adam Jr also had a couple, the absence of slaves would
indicate Adam probably wasn't "into deep cotton"
and that the boys spent a lot of time behind the plow.
We don't have a list of buyers from the sale but I wonder if the ploughs
Michael bought when Adam Jr died might not have been some he had spent many a
warm day following. The still tells
us that they raised corn and at least some was exported in liquid form.
The hives of bees tell us they had a sweet tooth and pioneer practicality
of good husbandry. Like some of us
who grew up in the depression, the McKee boys ate well, rode well and didn't
really miss some of the refinements "gentleman farmers" might enjoy.
