William Freeman Read, Deeds and Letty

On 13 February, I wrote about the migration of the Read family from Culpeper, Virginia to Barren County, Kentucky. In 1841 and 1844, William Freeman Read appears on two deeds of trust in Culpeper County, Virginia records. These are two of the last records mentioning William F. Read in Culpeper. The second deed ties William to Rice Carter Ballard, brother of William's wife Emily Ann Heslopp Ballard. Rice Ballard was a slave trader and later plantation owner who worked with the Franklin and Armfield slave trading firm in Alexandria, Virginia in the late 1820s and early 1830s.

In both deeds, a slave woman named Letty is listed as additional collateral.

William F. Read appears in the 1830 US Census in Fauquier County, Virginia. The record shows him with two boys under the age of 5 (Rice and Guilford), one between 5 and 10 (unknown), himself (31 years old), a daughter between 5 and 10, and his wife Emily (28).

In this census record, William also had three slaves, one man between the ages of 10 and 24, a child under the age of 10, and a woman between the ages of 10 and 24. Perhaps this was a young family. I don't know if Letty in the 1841 and 1844 deeds was the same woman from the 1830 Census.

I have not been able to find William and family in the 1840 Census in Fauquier or Culpeper Counties. By 1850, William and family were in Barren County, Kentucky, and did not own any slaves.