Friday, September 18, 2020

SC Deed Recorded in Baldwin County, Alabama Deed Books

We have all seen the public notices, posted at the time of death, in the Newspapers naming our ancestors who are presumed to be not within the bounds of this state. This week while researching my Davis‘s who migrated from Marion County, SC to Baldwin County, Alabama I ran across something I had not experienced before this time.

Baldwin County, Alabama Deed Book “D, Page 407 contains a Marion District, South Carolina Deed referred to as a “Power of Attorney.”  The Deed/Power of Attorney appoint Joseph P. Davis to act as an attorney for Francis M. Davis and Sarah Ann Davis to collect any interests they may be entitled too from Joseph W. Davis the Executor of the Last Will and Testament of Benjamin Davis. The Deed/Power of Attorney is dated 14 March 1840. 



State of South Carolina }
Marion District} Know all men by these presents that we Francis M. Davis and Sarah Ann Davis of the District and State aforesaid do make constitute and appoint Joseph P. Davis of the said State and District our true and lawful attorney for us and in our names to collect from and with with <sic> Joseph W. Davis the Executor of Benjamin Davis last will and testament who resided in the Baldwin County the State of Alabama previous to his death, and to collect recover and with, by any means of sale or otherwise all the property real and personal coming to us or in any belonging to or due us by virtue of the said last will and testament of the said Benjamin Davis dec'd. with power also an attorney or attorneys under him for that purpose to make and substitute and to do all lawful acts for effecting the provisions hereby ratifying and confirming all our said attorney or his substitute shall do therein, by virtue thereof. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and Seals this fourteenth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and forty.
Sealed and delivered in}                Francis M. Davis {LS}
the presence of}                           Sarah A. Davis {LS}
Henry Davis }
Mary A. Davis}

        Be it known that on the fourteenth day of Match one thousand Eight hundred and forty and in the Sixty-fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America before me William W. Harllee Notary Public by Letters  Published under the Great Seal of the State duly commissioned and Sworn came Francis M. Davis and Sarah Ann Davis above named, and acknowledged the foregoing Power of Attorney to be their act and Deed. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of Office art Marion Court House in the State of South Carolina the day and year last mentioned.
                                                William W. Harllee {Seal}
                                                Notary Publick
                                                        (Ex Off illegible)

The State of South Carolina}
By his Excellency Patrick Noble Esq. Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the State aforesaid. To all to whom these presents shall come. Know ye that Wm. W. Harllee Esquire whose seal and Signature appears to the instrument of writing, hereto annexed, is one of the Justices of the quorum, assigned to Keep the peace for the said State, and notary public, commissioned by letters patent under the Great Seal of the State. Therefore all due faith, credit, and authority is and ought to be had and given to his proceedings and certificates as such. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Seal of the State in the Town of Columbia the thirtieth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and forty, and in the Sixty-fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America. 
{LS}        Rec'd and Recorded the 2nd December 1840
Patrick Nabb By the Governor}        W. H. Gasque, Clk
                     M. Laborde Secretary of State

The repetitiveness of names within the Davis Lineage makes sorting out these Davises very difficult at times. A case in point is this Power of Attorney -

  • Which Benjamin Davis is Joseph W. Davis the Executor of/for?
  • Joseph William Davis is the Son of Henry H. Davis. Henry H. Davis migrated to Baldwin County, Alabama where he died, date unknown.
  • Francis M. Davis and Sarah Ann Davis, brother and sister, are the son and daughter of  Francis “Frank Davis and Sarah M. Port.
  • Joseph P. Davis is the brother of  Francis M. Davis and Sarah Ann Davis, and a son of  Francis “Frank Davis and Sarah M. Port.

Francis “Frank” Davis had a brother Benjamin Davis, born about 1781 that I think is the Benjamin Davis referred to within this Deed/Power of Attorney. More digging will be required to prove this point.

These Davises are all Distant Cousins. 

_________________________________
DEED BOOK D, page 407, Image 215
Baldwin County, South Carolina
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37R-Q377-X?i=215&cat=568068

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