Enslaved People Named: Sally, Betty
Testator: John Sandiford
Executors: Elizabeth Sandiford, James Wood
Date Signed: 1784-03-29
This will was found in digitized Liberty County Probate Office loose files. It is not clear if it was ever recorded.
[Begin Transcript]
In the Name of God Amen I John
Sandiford Planter in Liberty County in the State
of Georgia being Weak in Body but of sound mind
and Memory and Considering my Mortality doth
hereby make and ordain this my last Will and
Testament that is to say First of all I Commend
my Soul into the Merciful hands of Jesus Christ
my only Hope and Saviour and my Body to de
=cent Burial at the Discretion of my Executors, not
Doubting the Resurrection of the Same at the last
Day, and as touching my Worldly Goods wherewith
God has Blessed me in this Life, I Give and dispose
of them in the following Manner that is to say
first my Will is that all my Just Debts and funeral
Charges be Paid out of my Estate
Item I give and bequeath unto my Beloved Wife Elizabeth
Sandiford but only on the terms and Conditions herein
=after limited and expressed of for and Concerning her
and not otherwise two Negro Girls by name Sally
and Betty with their issue and a Mare named
Polly with her Increase to her and her Heirs forever
It is my Will also that my said Wife Elizabeth shall
live on my Lands during her Widowhood and no longer
and her Maintenance out of the income of my Estate
during her Widowhood, But I do hereby declare that the
said Legacies and Gifts by me herein given to my
said Wife, are so given and Bequeathed unto her
and are Meant and intended to be in full Satisfaction
and Bar of all such Dower Interest Customary part
Transcription: Page 2
Share or Thirds, of my Real and Personal Estate, which
she can or may Claim by any Right Title or Custom
Whatsoever, and in case she my said Wife, shall claim
challenge or Demand any Dower, Thirds or Customary
Part or other Share or Interest, in or out of all or any my
Estate, Real or Personal, except only such part as is
herein given & Bequeathed unto her, I do hereby Will
and Declare that all and every the Legacies Gifts and
Bequests to her herein given and bequeathed, shall be
Void and of no Effect, and in such case I give and
Bequeath the same in such Manner as the Rest and
Residue of my Estate is hereinafter given and disposed
Of. Item, I give and Bequeath unto my Loving
Son John Sandiford all the Rest and Residue of
my Estate both Real and Personal to him and to his
Heirs for Ever,
It is my Will that in case of the Death of my said Son
should happen before he Arrives to Age or is married
that my Real Estate and one half of my Personal
Estate shall go and is hereby given to my Loving Brother
Audley Sandiford to him and to his Heirs for Ever.
And it is my Will that if such Death should hap
=pen that the other half of my Personal Estate shall go
to and is hereby given to my Beloved Wife Elizabeth
during her Life and at her Decease it is my Will
the same shall go to my said Brother Audley to him
and to his Heirs for Ever.
Lastly, I hereby Nominate and Constitute my said
my said Wife Elizabeth so long as she shall live my
Widow and no longer Executrix, and my loving
Brother James Wood my Executor of this my last Will
and Testament, and I do hereby give and grant unto
my said Executrix & Executor, Power and Authority
for the Use, Benefit, Behoof and best advantage of
my said Estate, and to Act as they shall Judge will
most conduce to the Interest and Welfare of my said Child
In Witness whereof I the said John Sandiford to this
my said Last Will and Testament Have set my hand
and Seal this Twenty ninth day of March One Thou
=sand seven Hundred & Eighty four, and in the Eighth
Year of the Sovereign Independance of America —
Sealed Published & Declared
by Mr. John Sandiford to be
his Last Will and Testament
in Presence of us, who at the
Testators Request have hereunto
subscribed our Names as Witnesses.
N:B: the Word (and) full line in the
second Page line eighteen was altered
Before the Will was Signed
Samuel Lines
Thos [Thomas] Bradwell
Gideon Dowse
James Wood
[Signed]
John Sandiford (Seal)
Personally appeared the 8th Day of March 1785 before me Thomas Baker Register of Probate for Liberty County in the State of Georgia
Thomas Bradwell and Samuel Lines who being duly sworn
saith that they saw John Sandiford seal and sign this Instru=
ment of Writing as his last Will and Testament that they at
his Request signed their Names as Witnesses and that they saw
Gideon Dowse & James Wood sign their Names also as Witnesses
of the same, they also further say that at the Time this In=
strument of Writing was signed to their certain Knowledge the
Word in the twenty fifth line of the first Page which now
stand Widowhood was Lifetime and has been since altered
Sworn before me the Day and Year
above written Thomas Baker J. P.
Thos Bradwell
Saml Lines
Personally appeared this twelfth Day of December 1785 before me
Thomas Baker Register of Probate for the County of Liberty and
State of Georgia, Mary Dunham, Mary Law, and Elizabeth
Wood who being duly sworn, deposeth, and saith that they were
each of them present when the within named Testator John
Sandiford, on reading over his within Last Will and Testament
desired that the Word (Lifetime) in the twenty fifth line of the
first Page should be altered into (Widowhood) and that to their
certain knowledge it was done in his Presence, and at his par=
=ticular Request and Desire by James Wood.
Sworn the Day & Year above
written before me
Thomas Baker J. P.
Mary Dunham
Mary Law
Elizabeth Wood
[Center filing note]:
The last Will & Testament of
John Sandiford
proven 8th March 1785
Recorded and Registered
in Book A page 12
p’r (illegible)
[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-L9QM-VQWQ : accessed 15 Jun 2026), “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990 -> Liberty -> Estate records 1775-1892 Sallett, W. H. – Shuman, Leonard, images 150-4, FamilySearch Library film #005764246.