The Family › Temple–Catchings › Culley
Lewis Thomas Culley
1805–1885
✦ direct ancestor — Owen's 4×-great-grandfather · Crouch line
Life
- Born
- 12 Nov 1805 · New York, USA
- Died
- 17 Sep 1885 · Rondo, Miller, Arkansas, USA
Marriage & children
Records behind this page
Miller County, Arkansas, Probate Court — Wills, Vol. A, 1875-1911
Will of Dr. Lewis T. Culley of Rondo, subscribed 17 Aug 1885, recorded 24 Sep 1885; Ancestry coll. 8638 rec. 2251481, images 007117037_00053-00054
read the transcript
Will of Lewis T. Culley, Miller Co., Arkansas, Wills Vol. A 1875-1911. Read on the image 18 Sep 2026, both sheets. Verbatim, in part: 'I Lewis T. Culley of the town of Rondo in the County ... and State of Arkansas being now of sound and disposing mind and memory, though not in good bodily health ... do hereby make and publish this my last will and testament ...' 'Second. my will is that, next, my said executor shall lay out and expend for tomb stones to be erected over my grave and over the grave of my deceased wife Harriet D. Culley, over the graves of my deceased children John D. Culley, Henry L. Culley and Mary I. Hand, and over the graves of my deceased son in law H. B. D. Hand and over the graves of the children of the said H. B. D. Hand and Mary I. Hand, all of said graves being in the burial ground at Rondo ...' 'Third. To my daughter Helen M. Edwards I give and bequeath one dollar in money to be paid to her by my said executor within twelve months after my decease, and to be for the sole use of herself, her heirs, executors, administrators and assigns.' 'Fourth. All the rest and residue of my estate, real personal or mixed, of which I shall die seized and possessed ... [to be] divided share and share alike among my remaining children viz Edwin R. Culley, Emma L. Nash and Susan A. Mager, to be for their sole use and that of their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns.' 'Lastly. I do nominate and appoint Charles E. Bramble of Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas to be the executor of this my last will and testament. In testimony whereof, I the said Lewis T. Culley have to this my last will and testament subscribed my name on this 17th day of August A.D. 1885.' [signed] Lewis T. Culley Witnesses: Catharine C. Payton, Oscar D. Scott. Proved on their affidavits before Wm. R. Kirby, Clerk of the Miller County Probate Court, and FILED FOR RECORD 24 Sep 1885. NOTE: Ancestry's index gives the probate date as 17 Aug 1885, the same day as the will; the image shows 24 Sep 1885, a week after the testator's death on 17 Sep. Register K728.
Research notes
Working notes from the research, kept verbatim — what was read, what it proved, what stays open. Many open with a line grading the parentage; what the grades mean.
Research note · 18 Sep 2026
AUDITED 18 Sep 2026 - CREATED this date as the documented father of [121] Hellen Mar Cully. Registers K728, K729, K730, K731.
WHO HE IS. Dr. Lewis T. Culley, physician, of the town of Rondo - in Hempstead County in 1850, in Lafayette County by 1860, and in Miller County by 1885, without the family moving: the county lines moved around Rondo. Born New York about 1805-06 (age 44 in the 1850 census, 54 in the 1860 census, both giving New York); his gravestone in the Old Rondo cemetery reads BORN Nov. 12 180[5] and DIED Sep. 17, 188[5]. Real estate 300 dollars in 1850; 4,000 real and 11,200 personal in 1860.
THE RECORD THAT MAKES HIM A FATHER RATHER THAN A NEIGHBOUR. His own will, Miller County Arkansas Wills Volume A 1875-1911, subscribed 17 Aug 1885 and filed for record 24 Sep 1885: 'Third. To my daughter Helen M. Edwards I give and bequeath one dollar in money to be paid to her by my said executor within twelve months after my decease.' Clause Fourth leaves the residue 'share and share alike among my remaining children viz Edwin R. Culley, Emma L. Nash and Susan A. Mager', so she is deliberately cut out - and a testator names the child he is disinheriting precisely so it cannot later be called forgetfulness. The one-dollar legacy is why the clause exists.
HIS CHILDREN AS THE WILL AND THE 1850 CENSUS GIVE THEM. Living in 1885: Helen M. Edwards, Edwin R. Culley, Emma L. Nash, Susan A. Mager. Dead by 1885 and named for tombstones in clause Second: John D. Culley, Henry L. Culley, Mary I. Hand, together with his son in law H. B. D. Hand and the Hand children. The 1850 household adds Geos R., aged 8, who died 10 Aug 1850. Executor Charles E. Bramble of Texarkana; witnesses Catharine C. Payton and Oscar D. Scott.
ONLY ONE CHILD IS ATTACHED TO HIM IN THIS TREE. [121] is linked here with ProofFather 1. The other six are named above and are NOT created, because nobody has worked them and an unworked person on a published page is a claim nobody has checked.
A CONFLICT RECORDED RATHER THAN SMOOTHED. A 1961 compilation, Talbot Feild's Texarkana Pioneer Family Histories, gives his birth as 1 Nov 1805 in New York and says he married Harriet Davis Hill on 17 Aug 1830 at Dayton, Ohio. His gravestone reads Nov 12. Feild has now been measured wrong four times on this family - two dates against the stones, Helen's birth year, and the family's migration, which he puts at Rondo by Feb 1836 where the census birthplaces show Illinois until about 1839. The stone is preferred. The Ohio marriage is not recorded as a fact here because no record of it has been read.
Elsewhere
This person on Ancestry (sign-in required)