Genealogy Treasure No.1: 1849 Will of William Parks

This is the first in the set of documents I purchased at an antique store in Kingston Ontario July 27, 2012. For details, see Found! Treasure Trove of Land Documents from Ontario Canada
 

This genealogy treasure is a hand-written copy of the original will of William Parks dated 1849.

I purchased this in a bundle of old documents, deeds etc. in Kingston Ontario.

William Parks states he is a resident of Richmond Township in the District of Midland, Province of Canada. This is now Richmond Township, Lennox & Addington Counties, Ontario Canada.

The land he bequeaths is noted as being Lot 16, Concession 6 in Richmond Township.

Many of the documents are about that specific piece of property over the years and I will get to each of them as I go through the papers. So each one will be a blog post.

In the will, William mentions his wife Rebecca is to have 1/3 of the homestead and a place in the home as long as she is his widow. This is pretty standard stuff for the time period. Men often left their wives provided for with a roof over their heads as long as they did not remarry.

Also mentioned are sons:

* eldest son James William to have 5L, some blacksmith tools and land

* William Milo to have East 1/2 of Lot 17, Concession 6

* youngest son Rueben Jesse to have West 1/2 of Lot 17, Concession 6

* Grandson Alva Hazzard to have 2L and some personal items (details in the will)

More documents will follow as I scan them and extract their details. You may view all the documents as they are published by clicking on the label Lennox-Addington Co. Collection.  If you are a descendant and would like to see these records, they are now with Lennox and Addington County Museum and Archives,
97 Thomas Street East,
Napanee, Ontario
K7R 4B9

Lorine's Research
I conducted my own research on Ancestry.com on this family and found that Rebecca married again after William's death, first to a Mr. Leggatt  or Leggette then to William McKittrick.

She had one child by Mr. Leggatt were a daughter Sarah Margaret born ca 1853. She had one child by Willliam McKittrick were James born ca 1858. Rebecca appears to have adopted a daughter Cynthia Dennison who later used the surname McKittrick.

In the 1881 census on Ancestry.com, Rebecca McKittrick is found as a 54 year old widow with daughter Cynthia McKittrick age 15. Her son Reuben Parks is living next door with his wife and family.

1871 finds Rebecca McKittrick, a 44 year old widow living with her son Reuben Parks 24 and wife, her son William Parks 26, her daughter Sarah Lyngatt [sic] 18, her son James McKittrick 13, and two children Enos Lapoint, 9 and Cynthia Dennison, later McKittrick, 5