Enslaved People Named: Nanney [alt: Nanny], Sarah, George, Venice, Phillis [alt: Phyllis]
Testator: John Hext
Executors: Roger Parker Saunders, John Gough, Thomas Parker, John Parker (Jr), Mrs. Hext
Date Signed: 1786-08-12
This will was found in digitized Liberty County Probate Office loose files. It is not clear if it was ever recorded.
[Begin Transcript]
State of South Carolina ~
I John Hext doth make
and ordain this my last Will and Testament.
I give to my dearly beloved Wife my Negroe
Slaves named Nanney, Sarah, George and Venice
and also all my Household and Kitchen Furni
=ture, Riding Chair and the Choice of two Horses
to her and her Heirs for ever. ~ And the rest of
my Estate both real and personal it is my Will
and desire shall be Equally divided between my
dearly beloved Wife, my two Daughters Eliza and
Maria Hext and any Child or Children my Wife
may now be Pregnant with, to them and their
Heirs for ever. ~ Item it is my most earnest
desire and request that my Negroe Slave Phillis [alt: Phyllis]
should be indulged by my Executrix and Execu
=tors hereafter mentioned to work out at a Mode
=rate Price or be sold to any Person she Pleases. ~
And lastly I doe appoint my dearly beloved
Wife to be Executrix to this my last Will dur
=ing the time she continues my Widow and no
longer, and my Brothers Roger Parker Saunders
and John Gough and my Kinsmen Thomas Parker
and John Parker Junior to be Executors of this
my last Will and Testament and Guardians to
my Children with full power and Authority to
sell the whole or any part of my Estate real or Per
=sonal they think for the benefit of my Estate
In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my
Hand and Seal this twenty Sixth day of
November 1785. and publish this to be my
last Will and Testament. [signed] John Hext [Seal]
Witness
Charles Lowndes
Hugh Ferguson
Sam.l Jacob Axson
South Carolina ~ By Charles Lining
Charleston District Esquire Ordinary
Personally appeared before me
Charles Lowndes, one of the Subscribing Wit
=nesses to the foregoing Instrument of writing
and made Oath upon the Holy Evangelists
of Almighty God that he saw John Hext
sign seal, publish, pronounce and declare
the same to be and contain his last will
and Testament, that he was then of sound and
disposing Mind, Memory and Understanding to
the best of the Deponents Knowledge and
Belief, and that Hugh Ferguson and Samuel
Jacob Axson together with this Deponent
signed their names as witnesses thereto at the
request of the Testator, in his presence, and in
the presence of each other. At same time
qualified Roger Parker Saunders Executor
Given under my Hand this twelfth day of
August in the year of our [word Lord apparently omitted] 1786 and in the
Eleventh year of American Independence Chas Lining
[End Transcript]
Find the digitized original at: Loose Papers in folders by surname, Liberty County, Georgia, Probate Court; digitized images with typewritten indexes, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Q4-D4RX : accessed 15 Jun 2026), “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990 -> Liberty -> Estate records 1775-1892 Harris, Isaac – Hornby, Phillip, images 541-2, FamilySearch Library film #005764238.