James Mathew Seay, Sr. - Some thoughts on the will of James Seay

The will describes "my cooper's tools", so perhaps we can conclude that, at least in part, he pursued barrel making.

One of the witnesses is William Breedlove. A reasonable speculation would be that this is the husband of Lerviah Seay Breedlove. So, is William Breedlove's mother the step-mother of his wife, Lerviah?

A curiosity is the reference to his slave Harry, the use of which is given to his wife during her widowhood, except that "at her second marriage or death" he gives Harry to his son Gideon. It is described as her "second marriage", yet, if she is also the widow of Nathan Breedlove, then any remarriage by her after the death of James Seay would be her third marriage. Perhaps this is simply an oversight.

If the agreement Jams Seay had with his wife was dated 1746, one could assume it was contemporaneous with their marriage, and that if James Seay's son John Seay is younger than the other named children, perhaps a reasonable conclusion would be that John is the son of the unnamed current wife of James Seay and would have been about five years old when this will was drafted in 1752, and that the named children in the will were John's half-siblings.