Hello Everyone,

A question on another list on step-children and inheritances in a court case 
made me think about a Chancery Court Case in Chesterfield Co. in 1766 
(1766-02).  In that case, my 3 g grandfather John Baugh, Jr., barely 21, was 
brought to court by his mother and his three siblings demanding their share 
of their father's estate.  

John Baugh, Sr. died in 1761 intestate in Chesterfield Co., leaving an estate 
that was inventoried at  more than £1,200, about £ 900 of which were 
valuation of slaves.   He quickly and apparently agreeably complied, and the 
case file shows alot of figuring and crossing out to make the numbers work so 
the mother got her 1/3 dower's worth and, the four siblings divided the rest, 
with the same fellows at the inventory doing the math.

Thinking about it, it occurs to me that the siblings and mother perhaps 
really had no other choice but a chancery court case to establish legal 
rights to the slaves.  If John Baugh, Jr. would have attempted to sell them, 
they could have challenged him.  If he had divied them up outside of any 
court action, there could have also been a later action or problems if there 
was an attempt to sell them.

Am I correct here, and that the chancery court case was really the only way 
to go to tidy up the legal ends?  One that would have likely been recommended 
by any lawyer worth his salt?

If there had been no case, would John Baugh, Jr., have by "default" owned 
them?   I will note that at the time of the case I believe that John Baugh, 
Jr., his two younger unmarried siblings (Creacher, Mary) and mother (Mary) 
were probably still living on the plantation.  Another sister,  Martha, was 
married to John DANCE, and may have been the impetus behind moving forward so 
quickly on the issue. The mother and siblings petition does suggest that they 
had asked nicely and now were going to court, which makes me doubt my 
conclusion on legal remedies.

Should we all be almost automatically looking for chancery court cases when 
we have an intestate ancestor, an estate inventory that includes alot of 
non-real estate assets, and best guesses that there were more than one 
"heir"?  I have two John Wallers in 1830s/40s in Pittsylvania that quickly 
come to mind as fitting this bill, no estate accounts found on microfilm, and 
both could be possible fathers of my Mary Waller, d/o a John, md. Crispen 
Shelton 1807 in Pittsylvania. Co.

Thanks for any thoughts, and my apologies if this seems naive.  

Best Regards,
Janet (Baugh) Hunter





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