Lt Col. Thomas Browne

Precis of Will of Thomas Browne late of Newton House near Whitby but now residing in the island of St Vincents in the West Indies Colonel Commandant of HM's late Regiment of King's Rangers and Superintendant of Indian Affairs of the Southern district of North America.

Debts chargeable on his personal and real estate 'viz. all my land slaves and hereditaments of what nature and quality whatsoever in the island of St Vincent, on the Grand Caicos and on Great and Little Abaco [sp?] in the Bahama Islands and elsewhere.'

Real and personal property given in trust [trustees Jonas Browne of Kingston-on-Hull, Thomas Alexander Murray Browne, the Hon. Johnson Littledale, Allan MacDowall and Thompson Harrison Esq.] to secure: to his daughter Susan Harriet MacDowall, £10,000 in five annual payments of £2000 each; to his second son Charles Susan [sic] Baring Browne £4000 in six annual payments of £666 13s 4d each; to his third son George Newton Browne £6000 in five annual payments of £1200 starting at 24; to his grand-daughter Ann Weatherall £10,000 in five payments of £2000 starting at 24 or at marriage, whichever the earlier, provided that no such payment would be made unless a bond for £10,000, held 'by the father Weatherall' of his grand-daughter Ann Weatherall, be handed over to his [the testator's] executors and trustees and destroyed, 'such bond having been obtained from me in fraud, imposition, deception and misrepresentation by the false assertion of the father to me and the grandmother Mrs Farr' that he [the father] had £50,000 in species of different property: 'we afterwards received undoubted information that when his debts were paid he was not worth fifty pounds.' It was his wish that his grand-daughter should live with one of her uncles and aunts who should take charge of her education to make good the deficiency she experienced from the 'neglect' of her father.

His son Thomas to take immediate possession of his St Vincent and Bahamas property and to consult the executors on all matters of difficulty.

'As some of my old faithful negroes have during the whole of their lives given the most unequivocal proofs of their regard and affection for me, and to whom I have given certificates of freedom, now I do hereby confirm the same and do order and direct if deemed necessary that my son Thomas do execute deeds of manumission for the same and also to pay the following charge out of my said estates, viz, to Nancy Browne, my oldest and most faithful servant £10 p.a. during her life and I give her further a house and grounds upon my estate with liberty in case of sickness or any casualty to demand the plantation allowance and medical attendance.'

To Charlotte Browne; to Mary Browne her daughter, to Robert commonly called Bob Harris [sp?], to Sally the widow of the late Simon Browne and nurse to my son Thomas, and to Cyrus Browne on the Caicos and to Maurice Moore Browne the like sum of £10 p.a. each during the term of their natural life with similar privileges and indulgences.

To my worthy friend John Mowbray £50 p.a., and £500 p.a. to his [the testator's] brother Jonas Browne of Kingston upon Hull, with £100 p.a. to the latter's wife if she survived him.

To his dearest sister Margaret Browne an annuity of £100 p.a., and Lt George Browne £60 p.a.

To his son Thomas that extensive tract of land supposed to contain 6 million acres of land in East Florida [he gave detailed boundaries for the tract], and a tract of high swamp land on the north side of St John’s River opposite Lord Rolle’s property, comprising 10,000 acres suitable for sugar and capable of yielding 4 or 5 hogsheads per acres, the land itself sufficient for twenty or more estates. He also left another tract of 100,000 acres east of the St John’s River granted to him for his success in resisting and then driving off the rebel army under General Howe. .

He left to his son Thomas livestock (cattle and sheep) on his deserted cotton lands in the Caicos, kept to support his St Vincent estate: he had, he said left 5 or 6 negroes in charge of them. He also left debts due to him in the southern US.