I looked at the original 1829 papers when the property was eventually
settled and there were several pieces of real estate totaling about
$6,000 - some being devalued by this time from as early as 1805 build
dates and some vacant acreage too.  The inventory also comes out to
several thousand as well which includes slaves.  And cash as well as
spices.

I don't think he was in the hole when he died but we do have to keep in
mind the year prior was a bad one with the volcano eruption that caused
the year without a summer.  Crops failed and many people were put out on
the streets.  Crops he relied on to sell.  But he didn't only sell
groceries but imported dry goods too.



 

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Kilby
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 10:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Death Notice 1820s

Eric,

Thanks for the clarification. So there was an inventory of his estate.
Good to know. And that certainly does kill him. Your theory of being
buried at the school property makes sense, and he probably did have a
tombstone. But that will probably never be proved in our lifetime. He
may not have been a wealthy merchant at the time of his death. Merchants
were notorious for having more money owed them than they had in the
bank, so to speak. And also for owing a lot of money to other people at
the same time. In other words, his estate had no money. That's just a
guess, and you are more familiar with his paper trail than I am.

Craig Kilby

On Aug 10, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Huffstutler, Eric S. wrote:

> Good question and figured someone would eventually ask that but here 
> is what we are going on:
> 
> Daughter Sarah married 1828 and the newspaper lists her father as the 
> "late" Capt. Charles Wills.
> 
> Daughter Mary married in June 1820 and he is alive then per marriage 
> post.
> 
> In November 1820, his property was being inventoried and tallied up 
> since no known will exists.  This created a lot of problems for the 
> children and fights for property and possibly why no death notice has 
> been found yet in the newspaper and possibly no headstone erected due 
> to animosity?
> 
> So I place his death sometime between June and November 1820. 
> 
> Eric 
 
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