This is a COPY of John Cranston’s will. John was Charles Edward Cranston’s father – died on August 25, 1825 in Woodstock, OH. I don’t know who made the copy.
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Last Will and Testament of John Cranston
Wayne Township, Champaign County, Ohio · March 22, 1823
Manuscript “Copy of Will” · Document W in the Cranston Family Papers
Transcription
Copy of Will.
“ In the name of the Lord Amen, this twenty Second Day [of] march in the year of our Lord one Thousand eight hundred and twenty three, I John Cranston of the Township of Wayne in the County of Champain [Champaign] and State of Ohio, I being in an advanced age but of a Sound mind and memory, thanks for the Same, Calling to mind the mortality of my boddy, and being desirous in my Life time to order my business So as to prevent trouble among my Children after my disease [decease], do make and ordain this my Last will and Testament in the following manner, that is to Say: principally and first of all my Soul I Commend into the hands of God who gave it, and my boddy to the earth to be Desently buried at the Direction of my executors herein named; and as to the remains of my worldly estate I Do give and bequeath as follows: firstly I order all my just Debts to be paid and funeral experces [expenses] to be paid by my executors out of my estate in a Convenient Time after my Disease [decease].
Item. For that whereas I have given Stephen and John Cranston Deeds of gift of one hundred acres each, the[y] is Considered as Such a part of their heirship to my estate.
Item. I give to my two Sons viz Christopher and Edward[s] Cranston two hundred acres of Land jointly between them, beginning and bounding on John B Cranston Land on the Southwesterly Side and to extend Southwesterly of the Same width of the sd. John B Land to make the Quantity of two hundred acres, running of equal Distance on Samuel Rice'[s] Line and on Gifford[‘s] [land], &c.
Item. I give to my son Ephraim Cranston one hundred acres of Land adjoining sd. Christopher and Edward[s] Land that is above Described, to be equal Distance on the northerly and on the Southerly Lines.
Item. It is my will that my Son Stephen Cranston be rewarded for his Labour Done on the Land on Treckles [Treacle’s?] Creek, and that he have one hundred Dollars value in Land extra above an equal Share in my Land that is not mentioned herein; and after that, for my Daughter Phebe A Savage, for my son Stephen Cranston, my son John B Cranston, my son Ephraim Cranston, my son Christopher Cranston, and my Son Edward[s] Cranston, with the proviso that [if] Phebe A Savage would rather Chose to have one hundred Dollars to be paid equally by my five Sons, to be left at her option, to be equaly Divided; otherwise to have an equal Share of what I have not mentioned.
Item. It is my will that all my personal Property Shall equally be Divided amongst all my above named Children, excepting the farming utentials [utensils]; and for them to belong to my Sons Christopher and Edward[s] Cranston.
Lastly I hereby I ordain my Son Stephen Cranston and John Cranston to be the Lawfull executors to this my Last Will [and] Testament, to execute the Same acording to the True intent of what is heretofore writen, according to the True intent and meaning thereof, holding and confirming this to be my Last will and Testament.
In witness whereof I have hereunto Set my hand and Seal the Day and year afore and within mentioned.
Signed Sealed and acknowledged by me the sd. John Cranston as his Last will and Testament. In the Presence of us the Subscribers — ”
[Copy ends here; the witness / subscriber names were not carried into this copy. The lower portion of the final page is blank.]
Notes & Commentary
On the document itself. This is a manuscript “Copy of Will,” opening and closing in quotation marks per the family’s scribal convention (compare the probate copy, Doc V, and the Revolutionary service certificate, Doc P). The hand is not clearly Josephine’s; it may be an earlier family copy or a transcript taken from the Champaign County probate record. The sheet is worn at the lower-center fold, but no whole line is lost there. The witness names are absent because the copyist stopped at “in the Presence of us the Subscribers” and left the attestation blank.
- Identity — the keystone. John Cranston (b. Nov 3, 1755, Newport, RI; d. Aug 29, 1825, near Woodstock, Ohio) is entry 5 of the family descent chart and the 1815 pioneer. This will, made about two and a half years before his death, names his children at the source and unites the archive’s two sub-branches.
- John’s children. Five sons — Stephen, John B., Christopher, Edwards, and Ephraim — and one daughter, Phebe A. Savage. The will states “my five Sons” explicitly. Stephen and John B. had already received deeds of gift of 100 acres each; Christopher and Edwards take 200 acres jointly plus the farming utensils; Ephraim takes 100 acres; Stephen is rewarded extra for his labor on the Treacle’s Creek land. Stephen and John (B.) are named executors.
- Christopher confirmed as John’s son. This anchors the John → Christopher → Josephine descent that previously rested on inference, and confirms that Stephen (the descent-chart line) and Christopher (the letters line) were brothers — so the two halves of the collection join at John.
- Ephraim — newly discovered. A son not previously documented in the archive, named (per the family pattern) for his maternal grandfather, Ephraim Edwards of Scituate, RI. Because he is also an “E.,” he is now a candidate for the unidentified “E. Cranston” who emigrated to Oregon in 1851 (Doc R) — worth checking his later whereabouts.
- Phebe — a correction. John’s only daughter was Phebe A. Savage (married a Savage), the pioneer narrative’s “Phebe Ann” (named for her mother, Phebe Ann Edwards). This withdraws the earlier tentative idea that the Dayton “Mrs. Phebe Johnson” (Doc Q) was John’s daughter, and re-opens that identity.
- Edwards — Oregon question closed. Edwards is confirmed as John’s son and a Champaign County landholder (200 acres jointly with Christopher), and he appears in Ohio again in 1858–59 as a bond surety and creditor in Christopher’s probate (Doc V). He is therefore not the “E. Cranston” who settled permanently in Oregon in 1851.
- Neighbors and place. Wayne Township, Champaign County — the family’s core Ohio ground. Boundary neighbors named: Samuel Rice and Gifford. The Giffords later marry into the family (cf. Walter Gifford, Doc N, 1896).
- Follow-up. This copy omits the witness names. The Champaign County will book (Wayne Township; the will was proved after John’s death in 1825) would carry the full attestation, and the witness names there are sometimes themselves genealogically useful.
