Steve,

Here are the children of Jeremiah Hatcher. The inventory was taken Nov 1822.

1 - Nancy bn 1804 md Jan 1822
2 - William bn 1806
3 - Jane bn c1808
4 - James bn c1810
5 - Jeremiah bn 1812
6 - Archibald bn c1814
7 - Wilson bn c1816

The guts of the will seems to indicate either death or marriage of the 
widow, Elizabeth.

"Item It is further my Will and desire that in the event of the Death or 
marriage of my Wife Elizabeth that my Estate with its Increase if any be 
disposed of in the following manner, in case of her marriage I lend unto 
her during her natural life one third part of my Estate to be 
ascertained by valuation; the balance at the same time be equally 
divided between my seven children before named.

  item, It is further my Will and desire that in case of neither death 
nor marriage of my wife Elizabeth before all or any of my children 
before named should arrive at lawful age or marry, that each as they 
respectively arrive at lawful age or marry receive out of my estate one 
horse and saddle and one feather bed which property when so received is 
to make a part of their respective proportions."

I'm reading this to mean that each child as they are of age or marry 
will receive a horse, saddle and feather bed. NO REASON to call for an 
inventory at that time. That seems to preclude Nancy demanding her 
inheritance after she married.

The date of this Inventory seems to imply that Elizabeth has either died 
or remarried before Nov 1822. As I mentioned there may be a marriage of 
an Elizabeth where we've assigned her to the wrong parents. To the best 
of my knowledge there was no other document for this case in the Bedford 
Wills & Deeds so no "final distribution" available. Nothing found in the 
chancery cases.

Which brings me to Harold Gill's suggestion - check the court order 
books to see what prompted the taking of this Inventory. Thank you, 
Harold!!!! That is a weakness in my ongoing education - not knowing what 
prompts each action in the overall process.

Sooo - Am I heading down the right road in my thinking??

Nel

HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
HALL DNA project: 
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~halldna/HDNAtest.htm

... Digging up the Dead ...
.. Irritating the Living ..
... It's what I do best! ...

On 10/4/2011 1:21 PM, Steve Stevens wrote:
> Nel,
>
> Knowing you, you probably already have the answer, but I am going to 
> ask my question anyway.  Do you have the ages of the children?  Do any 
> of them fall within the legal age window of the Inventory?  If not 
> then your best guess would have to be a remarriage, which are the 
> conditions of his will.
>
> Regards,
>
> Steve Stevens
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "nelhatch" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 7:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] A niggly question..............
>
>
>> I'm going to try answering several people who have responded.
>>
>> First, Mary Jean....
>>
>> I'm very familiar with VA research since our Wiliam arrived in 
>> Henrico c1636 and bucket loads of Hatchers still live there.  I'm 
>> also familiar with the chancery cases and have ordered a number of 
>> them over the past year or so. I do agree chancery cases are among 
>> the most revealing of court documents but......none found in this case.
>>
>> To Robert.....
>>
>> This inventory did not involve land but only personal property. I've 
>> found no settlement docs for this family.
>>
>> To Janice who asked
>>
>> "If the widow were considering a marraige with a person already a 
>> father, could the inventory have been a preparation for their version 
>> of a prenuptial agreement?"
>>
>> Now I find that a MOST interesting question :-)
>> And I don't have an answer but it would certainly seem in the realm 
>> of possibilities. How DID a widow legally determine her and her 
>> childrens' property in the face of a new marriage if the first 
>> husband's estate had not been settled?
>>
>> To Steve.........who asked about the will and may have strengthened 
>> Anne's suggestion......hmmmm!
>>
>> Yes, there appear to be clues in his will. For those who may wish to 
>> read it, see
>> http://hatcherfamilyassn.com/getperson.php?personID=I39485&tree=WmTheIm
>>
>> The pertinent paragraph seems to be....
>> " Item It is further my Will and desire that in the event of the 
>> Death or marriage of my Wife Elizabeth that my Estate with its 
>> Increase if any be disposed of in the following manner, in case of 
>> her marriage I lend unto her during her natural life one third part 
>> of my Estate to be ascertained by valuation; the balance at the same 
>> time be equally divided between my seven children before named. "
>>
>> To Anne who suggested the widow, Elizabeth, had remarried.
>>
>> THAT IS POSSIBLE!  But if so, it would likely mean that we have 
>> erroneously married off an Elizabeth Hatcher as a daughter of one of 
>> our other Bedford Hatchers, not realizing that Elizabeth was a widow. 
>> Wouldn't be the first time this has happened.
>>
>> This marriage has always been a problem for me....
>>
>> Creed Bozwell to Elizabeth Hatcher, 31 Oct 1821 Frankllin Co
>>
>> The Hatcher inventory and appraisal was taken Nov 1822.
>>
>> So now I must do some serious digging into the above marriage to see 
>> if this really was a single girl or a widow.
>>
>> Thanks to all of you for your great suggestions.. Team work always 
>> works!! :-)
>>
>> Nel
>>
>>
>> HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
>> HALL DNA project: 
>> http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~halldna/HDNAtest.htm
>>
>> ... Digging up the Dead ...
>> .. Irritating the Living ..
>> ... It's what I do best! ...
>>
>> On 10/3/2011 2:32 PM, Mary Jean Zimmerman wrote:
>>> Nel:
>>>   Suggestion:
>>> Do avail yourself of the research notes offered by the Library of 
>>> Virginia,
>>>   since it appears your query is related to Virginia.  See research 
>>> notes no
>>>   6 for county and city records and scroll down to wills and read 
>>> how the
>>> state of  Virginia laws operated.  Note particularly that Chancery 
>>> Records may
>>>   indeed give you some answers to your questions.  Note also that 
>>> Virginia
>>> laws of operating  on such issues were indeed different from other 
>>> states
>>> in which you are perhaps more familiar.
>>>
>>> The Library of Virginia is indeed a wonderful educational 
>>> contributor to
>>> genealogist researching families in this state. I hope this helps.
>>> MJZ
>>> PS FYI, I also have a family member who died in Virginia  but  circa 
>>> 1813
>>> and I did not find his inventory/appraisal until I searched a  
>>> chancery cause
>>> that took place in 1823.
>>>
>>>
>>> In a message dated 10/3/2011 2:42:28 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>>> [log in to unmask] writes:
>>>
>>> I see at  least two people seem to be confused regarding my 
>>> question. My
>>> inquiry  relates to an INVENTORY, and not a settlement document.
>>>
>>> I'm aware that  a settlement can come many years and even decades after
>>> the death of the  father. The inventory usually occurs rather quickly
>>> after the death and  normally precedes the sale of property and the 
>>> final
>>> settlement to  heirs.
>>>
>>> What I have here is an inventory taken 6 years after the  father's 
>>> death.
>>> The widow was still alive and the oldest child, a dau, was  married
>>> before this inventory was taken. All the rest of the children were  
>>> still
>>> minors and this doesn't seem to be a situation where the estate 
>>> must  be
>>> divided.
>>>
>>> Nel
>>>
>>> HATCHER website:  http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
>>> HALL DNA project:
>>> http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~halldna/HDNAtest.htm
>>>
>>> ...  Digging up the Dead ...
>>> .. Irritating the Living ..
>>> ... It's what I do  best! ...
>>>
>>> On 10/3/2011 8:01 AM, Carolyn H Pappas wrote:
>>>>   Hi,
>>>> The estate was probably not settled until the widow died or unless  
>>>> one
>>> of the older children reached his majority (&   possibly  died)&   
>>> the property
>>> had to be divided.
>>>>
>>>>   ________________________________
>>>> From:  nelhatch<[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To:  [log in to unmask]
>>>> Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2011 1:09  PM
>>>> Subject: [VA-ROOTS] A niggly question..............
>>>>
>>>>   Good morning, y'all
>>>>
>>>> I have a question for which I can think of  no reasonable answer so 
>>>> will
>>>> check in with the  experts.
>>>>
>>>> My man died 1816 in VA [will entered into probate]  yet his 
>>>> inventory was
>>>> not taken until 1822.
>>>>
>>>> This man  died rather young, leaving 6 young children, the youngest 
>>>> being
>>>> 1 yr  old. His inventory showed he owned 4 slaves and the usual
>>>> collection  of household "stuff."
>>>>
>>>> What would be the circumstances that  would delay an inventory for 
>>>> that
>>>> long? My overall experience has been  that these were taken relatively
>>>> soon after the individual  died.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
>>>>
>>>>   Nel Hatcher
>>>>
>>>> HATCHER website:  http://hatcherfamilyassn.com
>>>> HALL DNA project:
>>>>   
>>>> http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~halldna/HDNAtest.htm
>>>>
>>>>   ... Digging up the Dead ...
>>>> .. Irritating the Living ..
>>>> ...  It's what I do best! ...
>>>>
>>>> On 8/3/2011 12:24 PM, Brooks, Vincent  (LVA) wrote:
>>>>> The Library of Virginia (LVA) is pleased to announce  the 
>>>>> availability of
>>>>> additional Prince Edward County chancery  causes. The images have 
>>>>> been
>>>>> added to the Chancery Records  Index
>>>>> <http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/chancery/>    (CRI)  on
>>> Virginia
>>>>>   Memory<http://www.virginiamemory.com/>    .  The newly  added 
>>>>> Prince
>>> Edward
>>>>> County chancery images span the years 1754  through 1883. Combined 
>>>>> with
>>>>> the previously released images for  Prince Edward County, the 
>>>>> locality's
>>>>> chancery causes have been  digitized for the years 1754 through 1913.
>>>>>
>>>>> This  locality joins forty-eight counties and cities whose chancery
>>>>>   causes have been digitally reformatted and made available 
>>>>> through the
>>>>> Library's innovative Circuit Court Records Preservation  Program, 
>>>>> which
>>>>> seeks to preserve the historic records of  Virginia's Circuit Courts.
>>>>>
>>>>> To date, The Library of  Virginia has posted over 5.6 million digital
>>>>> chancery images.  Additional localities are presently being 
>>>>> scanned and
>>>>> will be  posted in the coming months. However, because of 
>>>>> reductions to
>>>>> the  Library of Virginia's budget in recent years, the pace of the
>>>>>   agency's digital chancery projects will necessarily proceed more
>>> slowly.
>>>>> Please know these projects remain a very high priority for  the 
>>>>> agency
>>>>> and it is hoped that the initiative can be resumed in  full when the
>>>>> economy and the agency's budget situation improve.  Please see the
>>>>> Chancery Records Index for a listing of the  available locality 
>>>>> chancery
>>>>> collections.
>>>>>
>>>>>   Chancery causes are cases that are decided on the basis of 
>>>>> equity and
>>>>> fairness as opposed to the strictly formulated rules of common  law
>>>>> cases.  Chancery cases are especially useful when  researching local
>>>>> history, genealogical information, and land or  estate divisions.  
>>>>> They
>>>>> are a valuable source of local,  state, social, and legal history and
>>>>> serve as a primary source for  understanding a locality's history.
>>>>> Chancery causes often contain  correspondence; property lists, 
>>>>> including
>>>>> slaves; lists of heirs;  and vital statistics, along with many other
>>>>> records.  Some of  the more common types of chancery causes involve
>>>>> divisions of the  estate of a person who died intestate (without a 
>>>>> will);
>>>>> divorces;  settlements of dissolved business partnerships; and
>>>>> resolutions of  land disputes.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have any comments, questions, or  corrections regarding the 
>>>>> CRI or
>>>>> scanned images, please contact  [log in to unmask]
>>>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>     .
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>   Vincent T. Brooks
>>>>>
>>>>> Senior Local Records  Archivist
>>>>>
>>>>> The Library of Virginia: Archives of the  Commonwealth
>>>>>
>>>>> 800 E. Broad St.
>>>>>
>>>>>   Richmond, VA  23219
>>>>>
>>>>> 804/225-4452  (voice)
>>>>>
>>>>> 804/692-2277 (fax)
>>>>>
>>>>>   Website: http://www.lva.virginia.gov
>>>>> <blocked::http://www.lva.virginia.gov/>
>>>>>
>>>>> Blog:  Out of the Box
>>>>> <http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/>
>>>>>
>>>>>   [log in to unmask]
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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