• General Notes

  [316552.ftw]
  
  See Historical Document.
  
  EVEN\TYPE Jonas\DATE 1779\PLAC will- in notes\Everton File Vol I disk 2 # 10
  774 sub by Wm H Hopkins, SrJonas' Will: son John and brother of Jonas named as e
  xecutors    \Will dated 2-23-1779     \Properly signed and witnessed, was ente
  red for probate Nov. 18,1782. It is recorded in Will Book B, page 533 in Culpepe
  r Co. circuit Court clerk's office:\I, Jonas Manifee [sic] of the Parish of Bro
  mfield in the County of Culpeper, being sick and weak but sound sense and memory
  thanks be to God for the same do make and ordain this my last will and testamen
  t in manner and form as followeth;   \Item it is my will all my just debts be p
  aid---   \item it is my will that my track of land in Hamshor [Hampshire?] Coun
  ty be should sould to the highest bidder and the money arising therefrom to be i
  n the hands of my beloved wife Elizabeth Manifee for her and the family's suppor
  t--\item it is my will that my beloved wife Elizabeth Menifee have and enjoy al
  l my estate during her natural life or widowhood--\item it is my will after my
  wife's death that my hole Estate Euqly divided between all my children then livi
  ng--\item I do constitute and appoint my beloved wife Elizabeth Manifee  execut
  rix and my son Henry as Exr. of this my last will and testament in witness hear
  of I have set my hand and fixt [sic] my seal this twenty-third day of February i
  n the year of our Lord 1779.\[Mary Thompson][mthompson@@aol.com] Culpeper Co. V
  A. Deed book E page 39: rented 128 acres of land from Lord Fairfax. In Virginia
  deed book II page 39. On Page 44 is the will of Jonas of Brumfield Parish.\____
  _______________________________________________________________\Book "The Undyi
  ng Past, Shenandoah National Park" by Darwin Lambert. On p. 277 it says that the
  re is a Menefee graveyard between the headwaters of Frazier Hollow & Butterfield
  Branch. There are about 25-30 graves, several sunken graves. Native rock marker
  s & one engraved granite tombstone for Catherine \Frazier Menefee, wife of BFM.
  died 1900. To get there you go up Pass Mountain Trail to abandoned Oventrop tra
  il to old road trace & follow it northwest about on mile. Cemetery is in an old
  orchard about about 150 feet west of chimney & house ruins, the Ben Menefee plac
  e.\__________________________________________________________________\copy of
  e-mail from Margaret Smith nee Menefy, New Zealand to Sue Eagle Sparkman, on Gen
  forum, Menefee Family Genealogy Forum:---4-3-1998\Thanks for your response. It
  was exciting to make contact with a Menefy in N. America.\The earliest recorded
  use of the name Menefy or variants that I can find in England [or anywhere else
  for that matter] is about 1580 in Devon. As far as the variant spelling is conc
  erned, family folklore has it that one of my ancestors decided to change his las
  t letter of his surname from an "I" to a "Y" because he wanted to sign his name
  with a flourish, but I have no doubt that all the Menefys, Menefees, Menefies, M
  inifies, and Menifies have a common ancestor somewhere along the line. \Another
  part of the Menefy Legend says that they were of Huguenot descent. The date 158
  0 date in Devon fits well with the persecution of Protestants in continental Eur
  ope as does the first recorded presence of my ancestor, Richard, in Andover in 1
  688.\The Menefys who came to New Zealand between 1893 and 1913 were the descend
  ants of the eldest [William Henry Menefy] of two brothers [and five sisters] who
  were born in Andover, Eng. between 1830 and 1844. Some of the other brother's [
  Alfred Purver Menefy] descendants are now living in North America. There is one
  [Sydney] Menefy family still  resident in England although there are several Min
  ifies still living in Devon.\Wouldn't it be nice to find that my particular anc
  estors were descended from a stay-at-home branch of your Menefee ancestors, or t
  hat both had a common ancestory in Europe?...\[My note- These names sure run th
  rough our family, too; the Menefee's had a propensity of naming children after t
  he previous generations.]\AFN:1QG4-S8B\

Details of Jonas' family with Elizabeth Betsey Chew