Will of Margaret (Robertson) Bishop of Dycusburg (1861)

In the name of God, Amen. I Margaret P. Bishop of the town of Dycusburg, Crittenden County, State of Kentucky, being sick and weak in body but of sound mind and disposing memory for which I thank God and calling to mind the uncertainty of life and being desirous to dispose of all such worldly estate as it hast pleased God to bless me with, viz:

I will that my Negro woman Mary and her child John & Henry and lot of land in Dycusburg, Ky. being part of lot no. shall be sold after my death and the proceeds thereof to be distributed as follows, viz: To my brother W.H.H. Robinson, I give and bequeath of same two hundred dollars. To my sister Mrs. J.A. Wadlington two hundred dollars of said proceeds. To my niece Mrs. Margaret A. Baldwin, one hundred and fifty dollars of said proceeds. To my niece Margaret Ann Simms, one hundred and fifty dollars of said proceeds. To my nephew Coleman R. Sevells I give and bequeath one hundred dollars of said proceeds.

To my nephew R.R. Kelly I give and bequeath one hundred dollars of said proceeds and the balance of said proceeds from the sale of said Mary and her children John & Henry & lot of ground aforesaid. I give and bequeath unto my niece Mrs. M.E. Brooks, I also will and bequeath unto my niece Mrs. M.E. Brooks after all of my just debts and funeral expenses are paid all the balance of my property both real and personal not mentioned in this will.

I also hereby appoint and constitute my friend Mr. Giles S. Cobb to carry this will into affect and do not wish the county court of Crittenden County to require security of him for that purpose and it is my desire that if Mary’s child shall be born alive shall be sold with her and to be sold the Negroes & lot upon such terms as Mr. Cobb thinks best and I hereby revoke all former wills made by me previous of this date. Given under my hand this 2nd day of February, 1861. M.P. Bishop. Witnesses: John F. Gordon, D.B. Cassidy.

State of Kentucky. Crittenden County Court, March 12th, 1861. I Berry S. Young clerk of the County Court foresaid County hereby certify that on the 12th day of March 1861 the foregoing instrument purporting to be the last will and testament of Mrs. Margaret P. Bishop, decd., was produced in Court and proven to be her true last will and testament by the oath of John F. Gordon subscribing witness thereto and proven also by said Gordon that D. B. Cassidy subscribed said instrument as a witness thereto whereupon the same is ordered to be recorded whereupon I have duly recorded same and this certificate in my office. Given under my hand this 15th day of March, 1861. Berry S. Young, Clk.

An Act to Incorporate the Dycusburg Academy (1860)

AN ACT to incorporate the Dycusburg Academy.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

§ 1. That P. G. Johnson, D. A. Brooks, W. B. Dycus, G. D. Cobb, P. L. Yancey, D. B. Cassidy, and J. N. Flanagan, and their successors, be, and they are hereby, constituted and created a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the “Trustees of the Dycusburg Academy,” and as such shall have perpetual succession, with full power to acquire, hold, and transfer real and personal estate, make contracts, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in their corporate capacity; to make such rules, by-laws, and ordinances as they may deem necessary, consistent with the constitution and laws of this State or of the United States.

§2. That said trustees shall have power over all the business concerns of said academy; they may appoint a president, treasurer, clerk, and such other officers as they may think necessary.

§3. That as many as five of said trustees, meeting in pursuance to their own rules, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The said trustees shall have power to employ a principal and such assistant teachers, male or female, as they may deem necessary.

§4. They shall have power to increase the number of trustees, from time to time, as they may think the interests of the institution may require; they may have power also to fill vacancies that may happen in said corporation, and have power to remove from office any member of the board of trustees, a majority of all the board concurring.

§ 5. That all the estate, money, or property now belonging to, or which may hereafter be acquired by, said corporation by devise, gift, or otherwise, shall be used in such manner as the trustees, by their corporate action, may determine.

§ 6. That said trustees shall not be required to procure a common seal, but all their corporate acts may be performed and evidenced by the official signature of the president; and said president shall be chosen from their own body annually.

§ 7. That the trustees of the Dycusburg academy shall have power to confer upon the pupils of said academy, any or all the diplomas or degrees conferred by other corporate institutions of learning in this State; and the private seal of the president of the board and principal of said academy, may stand in lieu of a corporate seal, and until one is procured, should said board determine to use a common seal.

§8. That when the academy, hereby made corporate, shall afford facilities for teaching all the children and youths in the district in which it is situated, and for the period during which each of said pupils is or hereafter may be entitled to tuition under the general laws in relation to common schools, then the school trustees may, if they see proper, report the same as the common school of said district; and it shall be entitled to all moneys coming to such district from the common school fund: Provide always, That when said academy shall cease to furnish facilities for teaching, as above required, then the benefits conferred on it in this section shall cease and determine, and common schools are to be taught in said district as heretofore required by law.

§ 9. This act shall take effect from and after its passage, and the Legislature reserves the right to alter or abolish this charter.

Approved February 20, 1860.

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