BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

Or, Subtitled: “There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God”

In my last posting, I brought the story of Moses Birdwell (1769-1849) up to his death in 1849 in Hopkins County, Texas. That posting notes that the family journal compiled by several members of the Cunningham family, which connects to the Birdwells through the marriage of Moses’ daughter Nancy to Calvin Cunningham, states that Moses had twenty children, ten by each of his two wives. As the linked posting says, there’s clear proof that this information came from Moses’ daughter Nancy, who provided material for the Cunningham family members who wrote the Cunningham journal. As the linked posting also indicates, Moses left no estate record in Hopkins County, Texas, and no other extant document giving the names of his twenty children has been found.