Scott Co., Kentucky County Court Order Books F and G — the court's side of Daniel Cooper III's estate: will proved 16 September 1850, appraisement and sale bill January 1851, settlement November 1851.

Transcription and notes

Provenance, the volume boundary the estate straddles, what an order book gives that a will book does not, and the holograph question are all in the source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated here. The will's own text is [A.112].

Data from the document [verbatim] (OCR-transcribed)

img 439 (bk pp.366–367) — September Term 1850 (court held 16 Sep 1850):

"The Last Will and testament of Daniel Cooper dec'd was this day produced in open Court and proved by the Oath of William H. Long a subscribing witness thereto, and it also being proved by the oath of James Gaines and Nicholas Long that the said Will was in the hand writing of the decedent. It is ordered to be Recorded. And on the motion of Reuben H. Cooper and George Downing the executors therein named who made oath [and] security being required by the said will, entered into & acknowledged bond in the penalty of $32,000 conditioned according to law. Certificate of Probate granted them in due form. Ordered that James Gaines, Nicholas Long, Gabriel B. Long and William Crenshaw any three of whom … are appointed com[missioner]s to appraise the personal estate & slaves … of Daniel Cooper dec'd and report to Court."

img 441 (bk pp.370–371) — October Term 1850 (court 21 Oct 1850):

"The Estate Book of Daniel Cooper dec'd was this day returned into court by the Ex[ecuto]rs of decedent and ordered to be recorded."

img 442 (bk pp.372–373) — October Term 1850 — the DEVISEES + division commissioners (full text, read from the image — the OCR had truncated it):

"On motion of Reuben H. Cooper, Geo. Downing & Rachel his wife, Elizabeth Cooper, heirs at Law & devisees of Daniel Cooper dec'd, also of Stephen C. Emison, Wm. D. Emison and William Sutton, also devisees of s'd dec'd, by their guardians David Emison & Wm. L. Sutton — Harvey Graves, Levi Prewitt[?], Th's Smarr, Washington Samuel are app'[ointe]d to divide the lands and slaves devised by said Cooper according to the provisions of his will & Report to Court." (This is the COMPLETE list — it all fits on p.373; the continuation on img 443 is unrelated court business.)

img 486 — January Term 1851 (court 20 Jan 1851):

"An appraisement and Sale Bill of the Estate of Daniel Cooper dec'd returned into Court and ordered to be recorded."

img 524 — October Term 1851 (sheriff's property list) + November Term 1851:

"… Elizabeth Cooper 57 acres land Scott County Value $2850.00 and 2 mares value 1000 …" · [Nov 1851:] "[settlemen]t with Ex[ecuto]r of Daniel Cooper dec'd … produced to Court and laid over according to Law."

img 119 (earlier in the volume, ~early 1840s):

"… deed of conveyance from Bartlett Collins & wife to Daniel Cooper has been destroyed by the [bur]ning of the Clerk's office …" (a fire-lost deed re-established).

imgs 41 & 96 (~1839–1840): Daniel Cooper and John H. Cooper [p.668] serve as processioners / sureties alongside James Gaines, William Crenshaw, Wm Crockett (e.g. img 96: John H. Cooper bond $7,000).

Index (img 458): "Cooper Daniel dec'd estate — Bond 362 / 278." Index (img 692): "Cooper Danl — Appraisement & Sale Bill 378 … Settlement [Order Bk] E 180."

Notes (identifications → people files; not verbatim)

• OVERTURNS "died intestate": the catalog (p.737 / [K.59] / todo) had Daniel Cooper III intestate. He was TESTATE — a holographic will (in his own hand), proved 16 Sep 1850. Per the will text itself ([A.112]) the subscribing witnesses = John H. Cooper [p.668] + Wm. H. Long; James Gaines & Nicholas Long were the two who proved the handwriting (not subscribing witnesses — don't conflate). The will itself was "ordered to be Recorded" ⇒ it went into the Scott Co. Will Books.
• WILL TEXT NOW FOUND & READ → [A.112] (2026-07-13): the recorded will (Scott Co. Will Book "L", pp.252–253, holographic, dated 13 or 15 Dec 1846) + the full Will-Book estate record (estate book, inventory, appraisement, sale bill, commissioners' land+slave division report, settlement). [A.112] supersedes this pull-lead and gives every devisee, bequest, advancement, and the enslaved-people roster. (This order-book entry [A.111] and [A.112] are the same estate in two different record series.)
• Executors = son Reuben H. Cooper [p.844] + son-in-law George Downing (husband of daughter Rachel [p.846]); estate bond $32,000 (a large estate).
• Complete devisee list (the LAND/slave devisees, img 442):
• Reuben H. Cooper [p.844] — son (adult).
• George Downing & Rachel (Cooper) Downing [p.846] — daughter Rachel + husband (adults).
• Elizabeth Cooper [p.850] — daughter (adult; "Cooper" in 1850, married Gaines after).
• Stephen C. Emison [p.1047] + Wm. D. Emison [p.1048] — grandsons via deceased daughter Mary Ann (Cooper) Emison [p.849] — minors, by guardian David Emison.
• William Sutton — grandson via daughter Nancy (Cooper) Sutton [p.852] — minor, by guardian Wm. L. Sutton (his father, Dr. William Loftus Sutton). (Likely = [p.1049] Dr. William H. Sutton, b.1841.)
• ⇒ three daughter-lines represented among the LAND devisees: Rachel (Downing), Elizabeth, + the grandchildren of Mary Ann (Emison) & Nancy (Sutton). Sally Ann (Woodruff) + Janette Maria are NOT among the land devisees — either they predeceased w/o issue, or the will gave them personalty/cash rather than land (the will text would resolve this). That two deceased daughters (Mary Ann, and apparently Nancy) are represented by their children implies the will devised per stirpes to the daughter-lines.
• Commissioners appointed to divide the land + slaves per the will: Harvey Graves, Levi Prewitt[?], Th's Smarr, Washington Samuel — their report/return (the actual allotments) is a further order to find (Book G or a later term).
• Elizabeth Cooper's 57-acre Scott-Co. tract (held by 1851, [img 524]) = the same 57 acres on Cane Run she later devised ([K.59]/[K.63]) ⇒ ties the will-division allotment to her known tract.
• Estate timeline: will proved + executors qualified (Sep 1850) → Estate Book returned (Oct 1850) → heirs' motion (Oct 1850) → appraisement & sale bill (Jan 1851) → settlement (Nov 1851).
• Daniel III's widow Sarah Houghton predeceased him (d. 1841) ⇒ no widow's dower in his estate; the land passed to his devisees.

Cross-references

• p.737 Daniel Cooper III (testator) · executors p.844 Reuben H. Cooper + George Downing (× [p.846 Rachel]) · devisees p.850 Elizabeth (Cooper) Gaines / p.1047 Stephen C. Emison · p.668 John H. Cooper (processioning) · K.59 · pr.14