Jeremiah Lewis's will

 

State of. Georgia Crawford County Know all men by these presents that I Jeremiah Lewis of said State and county aforesaid have given to my two sisters Almera Lewis and Marsena Sarah Maranda Lewis all the property belonging to me in this life after the death of my Father and Mother or my return from the army. Given under my hand and seal this April 6, 1863. 

 //signed// Jeremiah Lewis 

 //signed// Fereba Wilder 

//signed// Lizzie Wilder 

 //signed// John x Wilder (his mark)

This is the will of Jeremiah Lewis, son of Nimrod and Phereby Wilder. The original was filmed at the Georgia archives, where it is part of the Crawford County Probate Court - Misc records of the Inferior Court collection. 

  He was serving at the time with Company K of the 45th GA Infantry regiment.  Lilian Henderson's records state that he was wounded at Chancellorsville in May 1863 and sent home as a result. He died there on 22 June.   Online rosters have him in the hospital from January to April for unknown reasons but don't mention this period at the end of April.  Since his sister was the witness, he had to have been at home at the time the will was made but apparently rejoined his unit shortly after that. 

 The wording of this implies that his mother was still living.  His father died in 1868 and his mother was not listed as an heir at that time so the presumption was that she had already died.  The witnesses to this are his sister Fereby and possibly her husband Jonathan N. Wilder.   Jonathan, according to his confederate pension application, was serving at this time.  He could have been home on leave or this could be another person in his family.  Lizzie Wilder has not been identified but should probably be investigated as Fereby's sister-in-law or mother-in-law.  

 The beneficiaries of the will were his two youngest sisters.  Almira (sometimes Elmira) later married Samuel Smith and appears to have stayed in Crawford county.  The will is useful for clarifying Marsena's name since she has appeared as both Marsena and Maranda.  She is recorded in 1868 as purchasing land from their father's estate and pays taxes through at least 1878, but nothing further has been found. 

It is interesting that Fereby and her brother could both sign their names, as could Lizzie, but Jonathan could not.