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Title
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Will of Jeremiah Langhorne
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Description
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Jeremiah Langhorne of Middletown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, sets forth his last will and testament, first entrusting his soul to God and directing that his body be buried at his executors’ discretion. His primary estate, an 800-acre plantation known as Langhorne Park, is devised to his grand-nephew Thomas Biles, with provisions for heirs of his body, and in default, to his niece Sarah Growdon and her heirs, then to her husband Lawrence Growdon. He carefully stipulates that three enslaved men—Jo, Cudjo, and London—are to remain in possession of the plantation until March 25, 1751, subject to rent payments, cultivation restrictions, and responsibilities for supporting Boson, enslaved women, and their children. After that period, the enslaved families are to be housed, given livestock, and in some cases granted small tracts of land. Langhorne further provides for the manumission of his enslaved people: all those aged twenty-four at his death (except Boson) are to be freed immediately, and the remainder upon reaching twenty-four.
Beyond provisions for servants and enslaved people, Langhorne bequeaths sums of money and land to members of his extended family. His nephews, nieces, and their children—including members of the Biles, Pennington, and Bates families—receive significant inheritances, both in cash and in landholdings across Bucks County and beyond. He also leaves property to friends’ heirs (notably the Hamiltons) and to distant kinsmen in England. In addition to financial gifts, he directs that livestock, farming equipment, and household provisions be distributed among Jo, Cudjo, London, and other servants. Langhorne’s will demonstrates both the complexity of landholding in colonial Pennsylvania and the intertwined presence of enslavement, family inheritance, and patronage networks within his estate planning.
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Rights
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This work is not in copyright, but commercial uses of this digital representation are limited. For more information, contact the Mercer Museum Library and see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/
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Creator
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Jeremiah Langhorne
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Language
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eng
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Spatial Coverage
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Bucks County, PA
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Publisher
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Mercer Museum
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Contributor
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Mercer Museum/Bucks County Historical Society
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Extent
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4 pages
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Identifier
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MSC 787
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Date Created
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1742
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Coverage
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Bucks County, PA
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Subject
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Wills--U.S. states
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Wills--Archival resources
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Slavery
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Inheritance and succession
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Quakers
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Enslaved persons--Emancipation
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Enslaved women
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transcription
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[PAGE 3]
Jeremiah Langhorne of Middletown in the County of Bucks and Province of Pennsylvania, Esq. Calling to mind the
Uncertainty of [Mans] Life in this Transitory World. Do Make this my last Will and Testament in Manner and Form following First
of alI I freely rely on my Soul unto God who Gaveith. And my Body to be decently buried at the Discretion of my Executors hereinafter
named And as concerning what Effect it has pleased God bestow upon me in this World I Give, Devise, & bequeath the Same in
manner following Imprimis I give and devise all my Land and Plantation in Middletown called Langhorne Park where
now Dwell containing about Eight hundred acres, unto Thomas Biles the Son of my Nephew Thomas Biles deceased and to the Heirs
of his body lawfully to be begotten Subject to the Provisoes Reservations and Directions herein after comprises and expressed
concerning the same And for Want of Such issue Then I give the Same to my Neice Sarah the Wife of Lawrence Growdon
and to the Heirs of her Body by the said Lawrence And for want of Such place Then I give & Devise the Same to the said Lawrence
Growdon & to his Heirs and Assigns for Ever Subject Nevertheless and under this Provisoe and Direction and it is My Will and
Mind that my Negro Servants Jo [,] Cudjo and London and the Survivor [of them] Shall remain upon [,] Occupy [,] Possess and enjoy all my Plantation
And the Proffits thereof Untill the Twenty fifth Day of March which will be in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and fifty one they Committing
No Manner of Waft [waste] or Spoil within the Same, Nor Sowing any Part of the Land thereof with any kind of Grain oftner [more often] than Every fifth year
Excepting only Ten acres for Buckwheat and Indian Corn Yearly And Likewise upon this Further Express Condition That they said Jo [,]
Cudjo and London and the Survivor shall yearly and every [issue?] on Every Twenty fifth Day of March pay to my Executors herein after named
and the Survivors [the Yearly] rent of Thirty Pounds [currency of] Pensilvania during the said Term And shall entertain maintain and
Support My Negro Boson and all my Negro women and Children as well as any other Children they may have within the [said] Term They [of said] Boson
Women & Children doing and performing such Work as is fitting for them to do. And my Will is that [said] Boson and all my Young Negroes (Except
what are herein after otherwise disposed of) Shall remain upon my [said] Plantation as long as I have appointed the [said] Jo [,] Cudjo and London to Stay there and that afterwards Boson shall be left to the Care of my [Executor] but shall not be sold, and the Young Negroes to the Disposall of their Respective Parents and upon the said Jo [,] Cudjo & London’s leaving my [said] Plantation Then I order and further Direct that my [Executor] and the Survivor of them Shall build and Provide a Small house for my Servants Lidia [,] Hannah and Frank and lay thereto Fifty acres of Land out of [said] Plantation between the House where John [Winmer] lives and my Line next to Thomas Stackhous[es] Land and that the [said] Lidia [,] Hannah & Frank and their Children Shall be there [Suffered] to abide and Dwell during the Lives of the [said] Lidia [,] Hannah [and] Frank and the Survivor and my Executor shall then give them two Cows one Horse or Mare and ten sheep ITEM I do further Order [and] Direct that my Executor or the Survivors shall (as soon as may well be after my Decease) Provide a Small House Where John [Winmer] Lives and Lay thereto fifty acres of Land [...] my Negroes Sarah and Nanny shall (if they Choose to do So) [be] Suffered to dwell there with their Children, But so long as my other [Negroes] are allowed to Stay upon this my Plantation they shall Nevertheless bestow their Labour upon the same Plantation for their common Profit and be maintained and Supported at their common Expense and At the Expiration of the Term hereby given in my [said] Plantation to the [said] Jo [,] Cudjo and London I will and Direct that my Executor and the Survivor Shall give unto the Nanny and Sarah and the Survivor of them Two Cows and one Horse or Mare and ten Sheep and that if [said] London Nanny and Sarah and their Children shall be Suffered to Dwell in the [said] last mentioned Small House and to possess Occupy & Enjoy [the?] Same [of said] fifty acres of Land so to be [laid] thereto during the Lives of the [said] London [,] Nanny & Sarah and the Survivor of them ITEM I give to the [said] Cudjo and London
Ten Cows Eight Horses or Mares & twenty Sheep and all my Implements of Husbandry ITEM I give unto my [said] Servants Jo and Cudjo Each One
Hundred and Fifty five acres of Land of that Track where Nathaniel [Wast/Wats?] Now lives to be laid out and allotted to them at the [direction] of my Executor when
They the [said] Jo & Cudjo shall Quitt leave & yield up the possession of this my [said] Plantation called Langhorne Park as [aforesaid]. To hold the [said] One—
Hundred fifty & five acres Each Separately during their respective [Lives] ITEM I give to my Servant William Finley the Sum of ten Pounds Cash money
of Pennsilvania ITEM I give to Each of my Negroes who are [?] [ages] the Sum of Ten pounds when they Shall respectively attain
the age of Twenty four years ITEM I do hereby absolutely Manumit Enfranchise and Set Free All such of my Servants as Shall at my Decease
be twenty Four Years of age (Except my Negro Boson) And all the Rest of my Negroes I order & Direct my Executor to set Free at their Respective
attainments to twenty four Years of age ITEM I give unto Edward Mary & Sarah the three Children of my Niece Ann Pennington and unto
William Jeremiah John Sarah & Hannah the five Children of my Neice Grace Bates deceased Each the Sum of One Hundred Pounds Cash money of
Pennsilvania to be paid them when they respectively attain the Age of Twenty one Years ITEM I give and Devise unto my Nephew Charles
Biles the Plantation which I purchased from Benjamin Scott & Arthur Searl (being the same where [said] Charles now Dwells) with the appurtenances
& to his Heirs and Assigns for Ever. ITEM I give & Devise unto my Neice Sarah Growson aforementioned and my Neice Hannah [Janny/Tanny] and
their Heirs and Assigns equally to be divided between them My Track of Land of One Thousand acres or thereabouts lying near [Perkasie?]____
County of Bucks be the same more or less to hold to them their Heirs and Assigns Equally for Ever ITEM I give and Devise unto Margaret Biles____
Daughter of my Nephew Thomas Biles deceased and to her Heirs for Ever the One Hundred acres of Land which I bought of the Sheriff Adjoining
to the Land whereon my [said] Nephew lived and to the Land of Robert Shaw and I do also give unto the [said] Margaret Biles the Sum of fourty Pounds
Current Mony of Pennsilvania ITEM I give and Devise unto James Hamilton and Andrew Hamilton Sons of my friend Andrew Hamilton
deceased & to their [issue] Equally to be divided between them One [Hundred] acres of Land adjoining to the other last before devised on Thousand acres
and to Land of [? Hughs] being the same Land which I bought of William Allen To hold the [said] one thousand acres of Land to them the [said] Same
and Andrew Hamilton [?] their heirs and Assigns Equally between them for Ever ITEM I give & Devise unto my Kinsman Thomas Langhorne
now or late in the Service of the Lord Lonsdale and to my Kinsman William Jackson of London Woolen draper and to their Heirs equally to be divided
between them five hundred acres of Land lying on or Near [Monocacy] Creek in the forks of Delaware To hold the [said] five hundred acres of Land to them
The [said] Thomas Langhorne and William Jackson their Heirs and Assigns Equally between them for Ever. ITEM I give and bequeath to my [said] kinsman Thomas Langhorne—-----
