Humphrey Harwood will, died November 23, 1788, York County

Humphrey was a mason and brick maker in Williamsburg, Virginia. I am a descendant of his daughter, Sarah Harwood Semple. Just as a fun fact, the last name Harwood was pronounced Herod in Virginia, as in King Herod in the Bible. Also, many of the buildings in colonial Williamsburg (where I went to college) were built with Humphrey's bricks.

York County, Virginia Wills and Inventories 23, 1781-1811, p. 176:
"In the name of God amen I Humphrey Harwood of the City of Williamsburg and County of York being sick of Body, and of perfect mind and memory, praise be therefore given to almighty God do make and ordain this my present last Will and testament, in manner and form following that is to say First and principally - I commend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God hoping through the merits, Death and Passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ, to have full and free pardon and forgiveness of all my Sins, and my Body I commit to the earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my Executors, hereafter named. Imprs. I Give unto my Son William Harwood my Plantation in James City County and the appurtenances thereunto belonging to him and his Heirs forever. Item I Give unto my Son Humphrey Harwood, all my Houses + Lots lying and being in the City of Williamsburg, to him and his Heirs for ever. Item It is my Will and Desire that the remainder of my Estate wheather Real or Personal shall be equally divided among my surviving Children when my son William Harwood arises to the age of twenty-one years should it be his Desire. I do hereby Appoint my worthy Friend Mr. Robert Andrews and my Son William Harwood Executors of this my last Will and Testament makeing void all former Wills in Witness whereof I have set my Hand and Seal this twenty fifth day of August one thousand, seven hundred and eighty eight. Humphrey Harwood (seal). Signed Sealed and delivered as the last Will of the Testator in the Presence of ....[blank].

At a Court held for York County the 20th day of April 1789. John Minson Gall Gent and William Moody being sworn deposed that they are well acquainted with the handwriting of Humphrey Harwood, decd. and verily believe this Will and his name there to subscribed to be wholly writ by his own hand whereupon the same was ordered to be recorded And Certificate for obtaining a Probat[e] thereof in due form was granted to William Harwood one of the Executors therein named he having made oath and given Bond with the said John M. Gall and William Harwood, Senr. his Securities in the Penalty of two thousand five hundred pounds conditioned as the Law directs Robert Andrews Gent the other Executor in the said Will named refused to take on himself the Burden of the Execution thereof. Teste, Ro. H. Waller, Cl. Cor."

York County, Virginia Wills and Inventories 23, 1781-1811, p. 219:
On September 20, 1790 an inventory of Humphrey Harwood's estate was presented to the York County Court by his Executor. Items of interest included 14 or 15 slaves, 46 head of cattle, 107 barrels of corn, 167 bushels of wheat, 41 bushels of various oats, 500 [I cannot tell if this is bushels/pounds/hogsheads] of tobacco, 300 bushels of lime, a kiln of 25,000 burnt bricks, a kiln of 15,000 raw bricks, 8 sets of tools for brick work, a large amount of mahogany furniture, 6 maps, an elaborate silver dining and tea service, several firearms and many other items.

1850 United States Federal Census, York County, Virginia, Transcription and Last Name Index

I completed a book on the 1850 census for York County, Virginia in 2005. It is available from Lulu at the following link: http://www.lulu.com/content/156511

The book costs $11.98 plus shipping for the printed version and $6.25 for a PDF download.

Book Information:
You will receive one new, soft-bound copy of the "1850 United States Federal Census, York County, Virginia, Transcription and Last Name Index," compiled by Kevin Lett of Virginia Family Tree. This is a new edition to the market, being published for the first time in 2005. Information includes each resident’s name, age, race, sex, occupation, real estate value, place of birth (specific counties are given for Virginia births) and some possible educational, physical and marital information (not all of these items are given for each person). There were over 440 households including more than 2,275 individuals (910 white males, 915 white females, 235 free black males and 219 free black females). The book has a total of 60, 8x10 inch pages and includes a last name index and is signed by the author.

Author's background:
Kevin Lett is a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia with a degree in the field of History and a minor degree in Art and Art History. He has conducted genealogy research for the past fourteen years, four years professionally, and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Virginia Historical Society. He is also a volunteer county coordinator for the USGenWeb Project and spent time as a fact checker, and author, for the Library of Virginia's "Dictionary of Virginia Biography". For two years, he was the editor of a family newsletter, "The Lett Gazette."

Area background information:
York County, Virginia was originally named Charles River and was one of the eight, original Virginia shires formed in 1634. The name changed to York in 1643, in honor of James the Duke of York. York County is 108-square-miles being roughly 27 miles long by 6 miles wide. The county seat is in Yorktown, the site where Lord Cornwallis surrendered the British Army during the American Revolution. York is approximately 50 miles from Richmond and 25 miles from Norfolk. Modern-day York County has land borders which include the cities of Poquoson, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, James City County and Gloucester County. A large portion of the county is surrounded by water, being situated between the James and York Rivers.

Last name index includes:
Acrea, Ainslic, Allen, Almond, Alvis, Ammons, Amory, Anderson, Armfield, Armistead, Ashby, Austin, Ayres, Babe, Balfour, Ball, Banks, Barham, Barlow, Barron, Barry, Bartlett, Barziza, Bell, Belvin, Bennett, Bishop, Blanks, Blassingham, Blemthaem, Blizzard, Bonnawell, Boswell, Bowden, Bowers, Bowman, Bowser, Bratcher, Bray, Brown, Bruce, Bryan, Buchanan, Buckherst, Bunting, Burcher, Burnett, Burt, Busick, Byrd, Callis, Candlish, Cannon, Cardwell, Carmener, Carmines, Carter, Cary, Casay, Chandler, Chapman, Charles, Chisman, Christian, Claiborne, Clarke, Cluverius, Cogbill, Coleburn, Collina, Combs, Cooke, Coupland, Cowles, Cox, Crockett, Crowley, Curtis, Cuswell, Daewett, Davis, Dawson, Deneufville, Denfey, Dey, Dickie, Digges, Dixon, Dodd, Donnelly, Doughty, Drewett, Dumlavy, Dunenfville, Dunn, Dunton, Earnest, East, Eastwood, Eddins, Elliott, Evans, Farinholt, Finney, Firth, Flynn, Ford, Forrest, Foster, Frances, Freeman, Garrett, Gayle, Gillett, Gilman, Goodwin, Graham, Graves, Green, Griffin, Griffith, Grymes, Guthrie, Hall, Haniford, Hanniford, Hansford, Harris, Harwood, Haywood, Heath, Heller, Henley, Hewell, Hewes, Hickman, Hicks, Hofheimer, Hogg, Holliway, Holloway, Honghwourt, Hopkins, Hopson, Hornsby, Howard, Hubbard, Hubberd, Hudgins, Huggett, Hunley, Hunt, Hurt, Inslic, Inslie, Ironmonger, Jackson, Jamerson, James, Jarvis, Jenkins, Jennings, Johns, Johnson, Joiner, Jones, Jordan, Kellum, Kemp, Kerby, King, Lauson, Laverty, Lawson, Lebee, Lee, Lester, Lewis, Lindsay, Lindsey, Luck, Lyons, Maeland, Mahone, Mallicote, Mann, Marnex, Marshal, Martin, Mason, Maynard, McCandlish, McCann, Mercer, Messick, Miller, Mills, Mine, Minson, Mone, Mono, Montgomery, Moody, Moore, Moreland, Morgan, Morriss, Morrisson, Moss, Mountcastle, Mountfortt, Myers, Nelson, Newman, Nichols, Noel, Northingham, Nottingham, Owen, Owens, Page, Paine, Parker, Parsons, Parsson, Patrick, Pauls, Peachy, Peters, Pettis, Pettitt, Peyton, Phillips, Piggott, Poe, Pomroy, Powell, Power, Presson, Prince, Provos, Pruvoo, Pumphrey, Purro, Ray, Redcross, Reggin, Richardson, Roberts, Robertson, Robins, Rogers, Rollins, Roper, Rowe, Rowelle, Russell, Salter, Sanders, Sands, Saunders, Savage, Scott, Selator, Semple, Sheild, Shelburn, Sheldon, Shell, Sherwood, Shield, Sibley, Simpson, Slater, Slaughter, Smith, Snead, Southall, Speed, Spencer, Starlin, Starrback, Staves, Stroud, Stuart, Sullivan, Sweat, Sweeney, Tabb, Tanerdan, Taylor, Teagle, Tennis, Thomas, Thompson, Throckmorton, Tignor, Tinsley, Tolten, Topping, Tucker, Vader, Vaughan, Vest, Wade, Wainright, Walker, Wallace, Waller, Walls, Walter, Ward, Warden, Ware, Warren, Watkins, Watson, West, Weston, Wheeler, Whitaker, White, Whiting, Wilkins, Wilkinson, Willard, Williams, Williford, Wilson, Winder, Wise, Wiston, Wood, Woodson, Wootten, Worman, Wright, Wyatt, Wynne, Young