A single sheet. The bond is written in a dark, heavy hand; the witnesses’ names and Stephen Worsley’s signature are in paler ink and may have been written by the men themselves. The ink of the front shows through on the back.
Bond of Stephen Worsley to Ezekel Adams to make a deed for 100 acres on Palmetto Swamp – Craven County, 1780
Transcription notes: spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the original. Words in [square brackets] are editorial notes; [?] marks an uncertain reading and [illegible] marks words that could not be read.
State of north Carolina Craven County
Know all men by these Presents that I Stephen Worsley am held & firmly bound unto Ezekel adams in the full Sum of four hundred Pounds lawfull money to which payment Well and truly to be made and Done I bind my Self my heirs Executors administrators and assigns firmly by these Presents Sealed with my Seal and Dated this twentyeth Day of July — 1780
The Condition of the above [Obligation written above the line] is Such that if the Said Stephen Worsley him his heirs Executors administrators or assigns Shall or do make over unto Ezekel adams him his heirs Executors administrators or assigns a certain tract or Parcel of Land Containing one hundred Acres being on permetea [Palmetto] Swamp Joyning my Land Jeremyas Kings Land & his own land by Signing a lawfull Deed Such as the larned Eterny [attorney] Shall advise then this Obligation to be void and of none Effect otherwise to remain in full force and Power in the Law
Signed Sealed and delivered in presents of us
John Hill
Gideon Hill
Stephen Worsley (Seal)
[On the back, at the top:]
Asined over my Right of the within [bond?]
About the original
“permetea Swamp” is probably Palmetto Swamp, which is spelled “Palmeto Swamp” in a description of “the Johnson land” in the Roach land papers and “permeter Swamp” in Jacob Warren’s 1784 bond in this folder. “larned Eterny” means learned attorney.
The one line on the back records that someone assigned his right in the bond to another person, but the end of the line is faded and no name is written, so it is not known who held the bond afterward.
The surname is read as Worsley; the long s makes it look like “Worfley.” Jeremiah King’s name is spelled “Jeremyas Kings” here. A Jeremiah King’s line is named in the 1804 warrant to survey land for Charles Roach Senior, and Jerry King’s corner “in John Hill patent” is named in the courses of the Johnson land in the Roach land papers.
Source: Bond of Stephen Worsley to Ezekel Adams to make a deed for 100 acres on Palmetto Swamp. Roach Family Papers (#346), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, Box 1, Folder d (Legal Records, 1784–1901). Collection guide. Digitized folder: ECU Digital Collections, 0346-b1-fd.
Images courtesy of East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. View in ECU Digital Collections: 35856.
Also from this folder: Swift Creek residents hire Turner Nelson as teacher of “Reading writing and Arithmetic” in 1823.
Part of the Roach Family Papers collection on East Carolina Roots.
