Thomas Moore’s Genealogy Site - Person Sheet
Thomas Moore’s Genealogy Site - Person Sheet
Documentation
A bill of complaint, probably from early 1802, stated:
“To the worshipful Justices of Essex county court sitting in chancery
Humbly complaining shew unto your worships your orators & oratrices George Durham, Lewis Durham Brooke an infant under the age of twenty one years by Lewis Brooke his father & guardian, Caleb Taylor & Nancy his wife, James Durham & Anna Durham, and Susanna, Fanny, Caty, Jacob, Joseph & Polly Durham infants under the age of twenty one years by Wm. Newbill their next friend, that James Durham, late of Essex County, died sometime in the [year] 1800 intestate & seised & possessed in fee simple of a tract of land situated in the parish of south Farnham & county of Essex, containing as your orators suppose between 100 & two hundred acres & leaving Catharine Durham his widow & your orators & oratrices George Durham, Nancy the wife of Caleb Taylor, James, Anna & Susanna Durham his children by his first wife and your orator Lewis Durham Brooke, his grandson born of a daughter of the said James Durham named Rebecca who intermarried with Lewis Brooke & died about the year 1796, which Rebecca was also a daughter by his said first wife and leaving your orators & oratrices Fanny, Caty, Jacob, Joseph & Polly Durham his children by his last wife who is now his widow. And your orators & oratrices further state, that as the said James Durham died intestate, they are advised that the said land descended to them in parcenery subject to the said widow’s dower, and the said widow being possessed thereof they have applied to her in an amicable manner to consent to have her dower assigned to her in the said land & deliver up the residue of the said tract that the same, as well as the reversions of such part as may be assigned to her for dower, may be sold as the same would not sell for as much as would entitled each of your orators & oratrices to £30 — for their respective proportions thereof, which they aver to be the fact, with which reasonable requests they hoped she would have complied with as in equity she ought: but now so it is, may it please your worships, the said Catharine Durham holds possession of the said land & refuses to consent to the same; all which actings & doings of the said Catharine Durham are contrary to equity & manifestly injurious to your orators & oratrices: in tender consideration whereof & whereas your orators & oratrices are remediless in the premises except in a court of equity: to the end therefore that the said Catharine Durham may on her corporal oath true & perfect answer make to all & singular the premises as fully & distinctly as if the same were herein again repeated & interrogated and that the said widow’s dower may be assigned to her in the said tract of land and the residue thereof & the reversion of such part as may be assigned to the widow for her dower therein after the determiniation of her life estate & the money be equally divided between your orators & oratrices…”
[Essex County, Virginia, Chancery Papers, 32-F-13.]
“To the worshipful Justices of Essex county court sitting in chancery
Humbly complaining shew unto your worships your orators & oratrices George Durham, Lewis Durham Brooke an infant under the age of twenty one years by Lewis Brooke his father & guardian, Caleb Taylor & Nancy his wife, James Durham & Anna Durham, and Susanna, Fanny, Caty, Jacob, Joseph & Polly Durham infants under the age of twenty one years by Wm. Newbill their next friend, that James Durham, late of Essex County, died sometime in the [year] 1800 intestate & seised & possessed in fee simple of a tract of land situated in the parish of south Farnham & county of Essex, containing as your orators suppose between 100 & two hundred acres & leaving Catharine Durham his widow & your orators & oratrices George Durham, Nancy the wife of Caleb Taylor, James, Anna & Susanna Durham his children by his first wife and your orator Lewis Durham Brooke, his grandson born of a daughter of the said James Durham named Rebecca who intermarried with Lewis Brooke & died about the year 1796, which Rebecca was also a daughter by his said first wife and leaving your orators & oratrices Fanny, Caty, Jacob, Joseph & Polly Durham his children by his last wife who is now his widow. And your orators & oratrices further state, that as the said James Durham died intestate, they are advised that the said land descended to them in parcenery subject to the said widow’s dower, and the said widow being possessed thereof they have applied to her in an amicable manner to consent to have her dower assigned to her in the said land & deliver up the residue of the said tract that the same, as well as the reversions of such part as may be assigned to her for dower, may be sold as the same would not sell for as much as would entitled each of your orators & oratrices to £30 — for their respective proportions thereof, which they aver to be the fact, with which reasonable requests they hoped she would have complied with as in equity she ought: but now so it is, may it please your worships, the said Catharine Durham holds possession of the said land & refuses to consent to the same; all which actings & doings of the said Catharine Durham are contrary to equity & manifestly injurious to your orators & oratrices: in tender consideration whereof & whereas your orators & oratrices are remediless in the premises except in a court of equity: to the end therefore that the said Catharine Durham may on her corporal oath true & perfect answer make to all & singular the premises as fully & distinctly as if the same were herein again repeated & interrogated and that the said widow’s dower may be assigned to her in the said tract of land and the residue thereof & the reversion of such part as may be assigned to the widow for her dower therein after the determiniation of her life estate & the money be equally divided between your orators & oratrices…”
[Essex County, Virginia, Chancery Papers, 32-F-13.]