First, last wills and testaments are legal documents signed and sealed by witnesses and recorded in the court. These documents give directions for the disposition of property, wealth, and assets. They can be viewed as both legal documents and personal papers. Their character is narrative and personal as much as it is formal and public. We have presented these documents in table format, as they appear in the county will books.
Estate sales show the items sold, the buyer's name, and the amount paid for the item.
These documents are drawn randomly from the will books for Augusta and Franklin. Each county processed hundreds of estates each year. We could only include a representative sample. Poorer citizens and often younger people died without leaving wills, or intestate . They left no record of their possessions or intentions.