Don't Do It
When I decided to begin research on my ancestors, people warned me, "Don't do it." "Why would you want to dig into stuff like that?" "You better be careful."
I wasn't.
A few months in, I found the following entry in a "chattel" listing in a will. It would become the first of dozens of such wills I would find in the following years on both sides of my family:
Robert / 8 / 1200
Code:
Name / Age / Value
From the will of:
James Poag (maternal 5th great grandfather , 1757-1797) Prominent member of Bethesda Presbyterian Church, York , South Carolina. Owned 6,000 acres of land.
To his son:
John Poag (maternal 4th great grandfather, 1784-1863)
Ruling elder of Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church, Chester County, South Carolina.
You would never know it driving down the highway
