By chance

 

LVA. Bland v Howison, 1841.

I am continuing down the path of digging into Spotsylvania County and early Virginia chancery cases, in the hopes of uncovering information on the children of John Carter. Casting a wide net with surnames and middle names appearing in the family, I stumbled onto a chancery case in Spotsylvania County from 1841 that contained a copy of the 1749 will of Abraham Kenyon of King George County, Virginia. Why would a nearly 100 year old will show up here?

Abraham was a father of Sarah Kenyon, who married a John Carter in King George County in February 1741. In his will, Abraham designated 300 acres of land to William Carter, son of John and Sarah Carter.

LVA. Will of Abraham Kenyon, 1749.

We need a bit more information to know if this William Carter, son of John and Sarah, was the same William Carter who served as the executor of the estate of our John Carter in 1783. It would be great to find another record showing the sale or transfer of the lands inherited from Abraham Kenyon, connecting this William with our distant Carter uncle. John Carter was named the executor of Abraham's will, and "for his trouble, [Abraham left] him one thousand weight of neat tobacco in cash yearly in during the term of years as any youngest daughters arrive to the age of sixteen." The will was presented to the court in King George County on 2 March 1749.

LVA. Will of Abraham Kenyon, 1749.

As for the case, how did Abraham's will end up here? The action seems to have been originally filed with Madison County Court in 1806, on behalf of the administrator of the estate of deceased London merchant John Bland. He claimed that Bland had a contract with Anthony Strother in 1772 for thirty-two pounds eight shillings and the transfer of two slaves James and Sucky, and their infant Sarah. The writing is a bit hard to read, but seems the administrator claimed that one of the slaves was still alive, and in the possession of Samuel Howison. It also looks like the claimant states that this slave (or both) were originally conveyed to Strother through the estate of Abraham Kenyon (again, it is tough to follow).

The case file includes an indenture between Ann Bland of London and Anthony Strother of King George County (dated 4 May 1772). It is not clear how it was resolved, but the case was dismissed in 1841.