A single sheet, written on one side only. The witness names are in different hands; the first is read as Abraham Cox with a question mark, and the cross between Elisabeth and hickman may be her mark.
Bond of Jacob Warren to Benjamin Hickman to make a deed for 150 acres at the head of Palmetto Swamp – Craven County, 1784
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
Know all Men by these presents that I Jacob Warren of Craven County and State aforesaid am held and firmly bound unto Benjamin Hickman of the same County and State in the Sum of five hundred pounds Specie to be paid to the said Benjamin Hickman his Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns, to which payment well and truly to be made I bind myself my Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns firmly by these presents. Sealed with my Seal and dated this 11th day of September 1784
The Condition of the above Obligation is such that if the above bounden Jacob Warren shall give a Deed and make a firm right of One hundred and fifty Acres of Land to the above mentioned Benjamin Hickman any time when required lying upon the head of permeter [Palmetto] Swamp then the above Obligation to be Void and of none effect or else to remain in full force power and Virtue in law
Signed Sealed and Delivered in the presence of us —
Abraham [?] Cox
Elisabeth + hickman
Jacob Warren (Seal)
About the original
Ten days later, on September 21, 1784, Benjamin Hickman, his wife Kation and their son Jacob Hickman deeded Jacob Warren 300 acres on Swift Creek (see that deed in the Roach land records). This bond seems to be the other half of the exchange: Warren promised to deed Hickman 150 acres at the head of “permeter” (probably Palmetto) Swamp.
Source: Bond of Jacob Warren to Benjamin Hickman to make a deed for 150 acres at the head of 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: 35857.
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.
