Keziah Fortune HOLDEBEE

Abt 1700 - Abt 1755  (~ 55 years)

• Name	Keziah Fortune HOLDEBEE  [1]
  Birth	Abt 1700	Chowan, North Carolina   [1]
  Gender	Female
  FamilySearch ID	GW3K-Q1P
  LifeSketch	[2]
  	See attached research. This family is very well documented. A team of accredited genealogists researched this family when Barack Obama became president. Fortune Holdebee's only children with Paul Bunch were Keziah Holdebee and Jemimah Holdebee.
  Name	Fortune Holdebee  [3]
  Name	Forture HOLDBEE  [2]
  Death	Abt 1755	Bladen, North Carolina, British Colonial America   [1, 3]
  Person ID	I594766054	Carney Wehofer 2024 Genealogy
  Last Modified	26 Sep 2024

  
  

  Father	Paul WINIGUM,   b. 1650, Carolina, British Colonial America d. 1725, Carolina, British Colonial America (Age 75 years)
  Mother	Amy WINIGUM,   b. 1654, North Carolina, United States d. 1724, North Carolina, United States (Age 70 years)
  Family ID	F536732042	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Paul BUNCH,   b. Between 1652 and 1658, New Kent, Virginia, British America d. 16 Nov 1726, Chowan, North Carolina, British Colonial America (Age ~ 74 years)
  Marriage	1722	Common Law - not married
  Children	1. Keziah Holdebee BUNCH,   b. Abt 1723, Augusta, Virginia d. Yes, date unknown   2. Jemimah Holdebee BUNCH,   b. Abt 1725, Bertie, North Carolina d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F536728594	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	26 Sep 2024

  
  

• Notes

  This family is very well documented. A team of accredited genealogists researched this family when Barack Obama became president. Fortune Holdebee's only children with Paul Bunch were Keziah Holdebee Bunch and Jemimah Holdebee Bunch. Her family originates from American Indian line from the Saponi tribe. Paul gave the other part of his plantation to Fortune Holdbee for life, remaining after her death to Keziah Holdbee and Jemima Holdbee, to be equally divided between the two sisters, but "if these two Children die without Heirs lawfully begotten [of their bodies]" then it was to revert back to John Bunch. The special favor Paul Bunch showed to Fortune and the two Holdbee children might indicate that Fortune was Paul's common-law wife. A late marriage for Paul to a woman of white race was forbidden in Virginia and outlawed in North Carolina in 1715. One might argue that a tenuous bequest to children illegitimate in the eyes of the law would require Paul to give something (even one shilling) to his other surviving children, so they could not dispute his wishes. In his will, Paul continued his bequests, giving Fortune Holdbee two feather beds and half the household goods (the other half to go to Joseph Meacham-a grandson?), and half of Paul's stock (the other half to Joseph Meacham), except two cows and calves that were to be given to Thomas Holdbee. Paul gave Fortune one Negro named Frank as long as she lived single (unmarried). Paul bequeathed "my Negro fellow named Daw" to Fortune Holdbee and Joseph Meacham to "help and assist [them] one as much as the other" and gave "one Mullatto Wench name Pegg" to Keziah Holdbee, to be kept in the care of her mother until Keziah reached age eighteen or got married. Paul gave Jemima Holdbee "one Negro Girl named Betty" on like terms, and gave Joseph Meacham "one Negro Wench named Moll and her child Fortune and one Negro Wench [named] Rose and all my Land that I have over Roanoke River" belonging to the plantation that Paul Bunch purchased from Thomas Wilkins. In addition, Paul gave "one Survey of Land only 100 Acres" to Thomas Holdbee. He gave his son John Bunch "one Buckaneer Gun." Paul Bunch appointed Joseph Meacham and Fortune Holdbee his executors, the residue of his estate to be equally divided between them. The last statement in his will reads, "I give Eliza Bunch one Shilling Sterling and my Daughter Russell I give one Shilling Sterling[,] this I appoint my last Will and Testament as Witness my Hand and Seal this 16th Day of Novr 1726." Paul Bunch signed with a mark, as he did in the records we have of him in Virginia.77 Andrew Ireland and John Cotton witnessed the will, and the name Henry Irby is appended (he became Fortune's next husband). Fortune Holdbee sold the plantation upon which she lived (and that was formerly Paul Bunch's plantation) to William Little for £15 "silver money" on 5 July 1727. Fortune sought out better opportunities far away from Bertie and Chowan, moving to New Hanover County, North Carolina, the southernmost point in the colony on the Atlantic Ocean. Her petition to patent 640 acres there was recorded in 1735. Fortune had already married again-or at least had taken another husband-and gave birth to two more children by 1733. Henry Irby, innholder, of Brunswick on Cape Fear, North Carolina, made his will on 30 January 1733/4. He declared that he was very sick and weak in body. He gave his son William Irby, a minor living in Virginia, £40 when he reached age twenty-one. He gave his daughter Ann Irby the same amount at age 18. He gave his son Henry Irby [there was a second son of the same name] "born of the body of Fortune Holderby" £40 at age twenty-one. He gave his daughter Elizabeth Irby, also his child by Fortune, the same amount at age eighteen. He gave Fortune, Henry, and Elizabeth, his house and lot at Cape Fear and made Fortune his executrix.

  
  

• Sources

  [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 15 Dec 2022), entry for Elizabeth Naomi Bunch, person ID G33B-HZW. (Reliability: 3). [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 15 Dec 2022), entry for Fortune Holdebee, person ID GW3K-Q1P. (Reliability: 3). [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 26 Sep 2024), entry for Keziah Fortune HOLDEBEE, person ID GW3K-Q1P. (Reliability: 3).