All good questions. Free blacks had to register annually. The fee may vary from year to year. It was somewhat hefty. There would be no reason to outlaw a woman from administering her husband's estate. Black or white. They were free blacks. It is a rare when we find free black people with any estate records or wills. In fact, out of about 300 estates in Lancaster County from 1835-1865, there is at most ONE estate of a black person, and I am not even sure about that one (NICKENS).
This is sort of off topic, but in 1996 in St. Louis County, Missouri, I worked for a real estate firm that re-assembled a 30 acre parcel that had been carved into 140 or so lots, mostly owned by African-Americans. (Underline "mostly" and add "but not always") Some might call this a buy-out but it was really a sell-out (and lots of people made lots of money.) At the end of the day, the hardest part was the title work. It was a nightmare. So many parcels were in life estates and quit claim deeds. We ended up with heirs all over the United States, some of whom thought they were owed the National Debt plus interest, and had never heard of St. Louis, Missouri. They could be blind-folded and asked to play a game of pin the tail on the donkey and if asked to put a dart on St. Louis, they would have picked Manitoba.
There are several amusing asides to this story, and for the most part everyone got along very well and worked together to accomplish this very complicated transaction. It was not a disaster but it sure had it's shares of ups and downs. But as I said, I have gotten very off topic. The point here is that black people have a different way of doing business. Perhaps the funniest part was when there is a huge title problem with one of the owners, who was the director of the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds office. Boy, she was NOT amused when this problem came up. But it did get fixed--and in a hurry too (It involved her deceased mother and her brother, and her! This is one case where there really was a will, which she had never read. WHOAH!)
It all got worked out in the end.
Craig Kilby
> Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 14:55:51 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VA-HIST] 'Free Persons of Color'
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> In Virginia during the 1840 & 1850's...
> 1.When 'Free Persons of Color' were registered in their localities were they
> charged a fee? If so how much?
> 2.Were their renewals filed within a certain period of time, was a fee charge
> again? If so how much?
> 3. If a 'married' free women of color lost her spouse could she serve as the
> admin. of his estate, or was she prevented by law?
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/196390707/direct/01/
______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
|
