The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-06-10
QUAINT old will has drifted into
The Age-Herald office. 1t is the
pronertv of I odnr,a az pi....i..e.

P1 The Age-Herald office. 1t is the
property of J. Odom of Rirmine-
ham, and was written by John Lacy.
elghty-six years ago In Halifax county.
virginia, Although the paper is
trifie yellow and the ink is faded brown.
the document is yet in an excellent state
of preservation and the words are as lesi
gible as IL written yesterday. The pen
manship is beautiful and the language
grammatical with one exception-there
should have been a plural in place of a
singular verb But a minor error of this
character could readily be excused in a
man who states in his will that he is
sick in bed. The composition is that of
man who was pious and well educated.
While not wealthy, he had a comfortable
store of this worlds goods, which he
apportions out to members of the family.
Beginning, "In the name of God, Amen.
l, John Lacy of Halifax county, and state
of Virginia. lying weak in body but of
sound mind and memory, thanks be to
God for the same, do this my last will
and testament in manner and form follow
ing, the testator proceeds to itemize
his requests. First he lends to his wife,
during her life time, four negroes, BILLY,
George, Lett and her youngest child,
Charlotte with their future increase" To
his son elijah he gives lone mare, one
feather bed and furniture and one hun
dred dollars in cash" To his daughter
Nancy he gives three negroes feather
bed, mare and some other property
John Lacy, another son, receives zone
negro fellow, Billy together with an
OK cart, a feather bed, a horse, a
cross cut saw and some land. His son
Samuel is also willed feather bed, along
with other property and three remaining
negroes are divided among the three sons.
There is some quaint detail but this will
suffice to show what a queer document
is the last will and testament of John
Lacy of Fairfax county, Virginia.
When drawing up this paper John Lacy
little dreamed that it would drift to Ala
bama after his body had returned to the
dust and that it would turn up in a
newspaper office nearly one hundred
years after that day, December 12 1913,
when he lay on his sick bed in fear of
approaching death and made the final
disposition of his property John Lacy
died in June of the next year. so he was
not at fault in believing that his end was
near Nor did he surmise for one instant
that the descendants of those slaves which
he willed to his wife and children in
spirit of rightful possession would in after
years be the cause of a bloody civil war
which would tear the nation in twain.
All was peace and plenty in old Virginia
then. There were no clouds on the horizon
in the year 1919 and the planter worked
his slaves in undisturbed serenity. Feather
beds were much esteemed in those days
and they were distributed with care among
the members of the family. Both slaves
and feather beds have gone out of fashion
in this country now and many changes
have taken place since the pen scratched
across the pages of this will. Its faded,
yellow sheets carry one back to period
when the United States was still in its
infancy. James Monroe was President
and the American navy had been born
just seven years before in the war of
1872. If the will could only talk, what
a story 1t could tell of the progress made,
here and elsewhere, during the eghty-six
years that have passed 1t has had
a long life, truly, but may yet rest in