Will of William Via Sr.

April 1782

In Albemarle County Will Book 2, page 408, digitized in Ancestry’s Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652–1900, is the following will of William Via, dated 7 April 1782. William has long been identified as a son of Amor Via, though their relationship remains unproved. He divides his land between grandsons Micajah and William Viar, both sons of a deceased William, and allows Sarah Viar, whom he calls his daughter and whom I take to be his deceased son’s widow, its use during her widowhood.

The grandson “Micajah Viar” has also been identified with Micajah Via Sr. (c. 1740–1818), my great⁶-grandfather. Later records, however, point toward a different identification. On 15 August 1799, Micajah and William Viar of Halifax County jointly authorized the sale of land in Albemarle inherited from their grandfather William Viar, whose will was recorded there. The correspondence of names, relationships, and property is strong, and I take these men to be the grandsons named below. As I discuss in my account of Amor Via, the evidence also strongly suggests that this Halifax Micajah was distinct from my Albemarle ancestor. My own descent from the testator, like his proposed descent from Amor, therefore remains unresolved.

In the name of God Amen I William Via of Albemarle County, calling to mind the mortality of my body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men one¹ to die, I do make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following. First of all I give my Soul me Trusting thro’ the mercies and merits of Jesus Christ my Savior to receive full pardon of all my Sins Committed, and to be received into Eternal Bliſs, and my body I give to the Earth to be buried in a Christian like and Deſsent [sic] manner, at the discretion of my heirs hereafter mentioned, and as to Touching such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased god to bleſs me I give and Dispose of in the following manner and form.

1. Perhaps a misremembering or misspelling in evoking Hebrews 9:27: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”.

      After all my Legal Debts and Funeral Charges are justly paid, I give to my grandſon Micajah Viar ſon of William Viar decd. the Plantation, whereon I now live, beginning at a Branch, above the new plantation, and ſo up the ſaid Branch to a pine in William Barksdale[’]s line, and ſo on the ſaid line Down to the river.

      Alſo I give to my granson [sic] William Viar son of the aforesaid William Viar, the remaining part of the Tract of Land up the river.

      And my daughter Sarah Viar, to have Liberty of the aforesaid Lands for her own proper use during the time ſhe remains a widow, and no longer, and I do appoint James Epperson and Stephen Philips Extors to this my Last Will and Testament.

      April 7th 1782 William (his + mark) Viar (LS)²
      Signed & Seald
      in the presence of
      Rowland Worsley
      James Talbot
      Mary Epperson

2. “(LS)”, written verbatim on the page, means locus sigilli, indicating where the wax seal William placed would have gone.

At a Court held for Albemarle County the Eighth day of May MDCCLXXXII this will was proved by the oath of Rowland Worsley and Mary Epperson two witneſses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of James Epperson an Executor therein named who made oath according to the Law. Certificate is granted him for obtaining a probate in due form on his giving Security, whereupon he with Micajah Viar his ſecurity entered into and acknowledged their Bond for performing the ſame accordingly

Teſte
Martin W. [illegible]