Henry Bass Fowlkes I

AUDITED 3 Sep 2026 - [1258] HENRY BASS FOWLKES. HIS WILL HAS NOW BEEN FOUND AND READ ON THE MANUSCRIPT, AND IT CORRECTS THIS NOTE: it names ELEVEN children and [1256] EDWARD BASS FOWLKES IS NOT ONE OF THEM. The paragraph below headed 'WHY [1256] ... IS NOT A PARTY' was written 5 Aug 2026 while the will was unread and is SUPERSEDED - see the correction at the foot of this note. THE WILL: Nottoway County, Virginia, Will Book 2 pages 441-444; written 27 Apr 1808, proved 1 Sep 1808. FamilySearch arks 3:1:3QS7-99PX-6469 and 3:1:3QS7-99PX-64D9. Read end to end by eye on the image. Register K415. Eleven children: Theodorick, Charles H, Elizabeth B Crenshaw, Branch, Henry, John B, Elisha, Liberty B, Martha, NANCY and Tabitha H. Executors 'my Brother Wm Foulkes' and 'my friend Asa Vaughan', BOTH of whom relinquished in court, leaving the widow Tabitha sole executrix. Witnesses John A Robertson, Joseph Foulkes, Wm C Foulkes; also proved by Wm Dilliard; clerk Francis Fitzgerald. Land: the home tract of 500 acres in Nottoway; a Lunenburg tract bought of Crenshaw and Coleman Jennings; a tract bought of Jese Ball. star 'my Brother Wm Foulkes' IS THE FIRST HARD HANDLE ON THE GENERATION ABOVE HIM. --- THE 5 AUG 2026 AUDIT, RETAINED IN FULL BELOW; only the [1256] paragraph is superseded --- Library of Virginia Chancery, Lunenburg County, cause 111-1809-004, Fowlkes v. Fowlkes - free, direct-URL, no login; seven images saved, all image-only manuscript, read visually at zoom. THE BILL OF COMPLAINT states: "your orator Henry Fowlkes that Henry Fowlkes the father of your orator departed this life some time in the year ____ after duly making and publishing his last Will of which he appointed his wife Tabitha Fowlkes executrix with sundry other persons as executors all of whom except the said Tabitha refused to qualify, that therefore the execution of the said Will devolved solely on her who qualified as executrix in the County Court of NOTTOWAY that the said testator by his said Will devised to your orator one third of the tract of land in the County of Lunenburg purchased of Jesse Crenshaw and Coleman Jennings and the remaining two thirds he devises to John B Fowlkes and Elisha Fowlkes ... which she refused, because the other two devisees were infants". star THE IDENTIFICATION: father Henry Fowlkes dead before Nov 1808 with his will proved in NOTTOWAY, widow and executrix Tabitha, and three devisee sons Henry, John B. and Elisha - matching [1258] (d. 1808 Nottoway), [1259] Tabitha Bass, and children [1260], [1289] and [1284] of family F443. "John B." decodes as John BASS Fowlkes; this family's middle-name convention runs Edward Bass, Henry Bass, Liberty Bass, Tabithia Bass. star THE WILL NOW CONFIRMS THIS IDENTIFICATION FIVE WAYS INDEPENDENTLY: the Lunenburg tract, BOTH vendors, the three equal lots to Henry/John B./Elisha, the widow Tabitha as executrix, and the two male executors relinquishing - matching this bill's "all of whom except the said Tabitha refused to qualify". WHY THE SUIT IS IN LUNENBURG AND NOT NOTTOWAY: the will was proved at home in Nottoway; a partition is brought where the LAND lies, and this tract lay in Lunenburg. The tree's Nottoway placement is right. no-entry SUPERSEDED 3 Sep 2026 - WHY [1256] EDWARD BASS FOWLKES IS NOT A PARTY: this tract was devised to three sons only. He had eleven children; a will devises different land to different children, so absence from one tract's partition is not evidence of non-sonship. no-entry THAT REASONING WAS SOUND FOR A PARTITION SUIT AND IS NOT SOUND FOR THE WILL. The will is a CLOSED ENUMERATION of the children and Edward B. is absent from it. Absence from one tract's partition is indeed no evidence; absence from the whole will is a different thing. See [1256]'s own Audited note. no-entry THE RECORD DOES NOT DATE HIS DEATH. The bill leaves the year blank ("some time in the year ____"). The tree's 1808 is bounded by the suit, not stated by it. star THE WILL NARROWS IT: written 27 Apr 1808, proved 1 Sep 1808. Procedure: heard 10 Nov 1808; continued for report 4 Mar 1809; report read and decree 13 Apr 1809. Counsel P. Bland on both sides. Tabitha "admits the truth of the allegations"; the two infants answer by her as their special Guardian. star NAMED NEXT DOCUMENT (5 Aug 2026), and it is the highest-value unread item on this branch: the WILL of Henry Bass Fowlkes, proved in Nottoway County Court c. 1808. It would name all eleven children as a closed set. Nottoway's records survive - this project has already used Nottoway Order Book 7 (1814-17). star FOUND AND READ 3 Sep 2026 - it is the document at the head of this note, and it did exactly what was predicted of it.