Estate of Sarah Kenyon Heslop

 

Ancestry. Spotsylvania Will Book U. P. 327.

At the end of January, I wrote about the family of William Heslop and Anne Carter, my 6th-great-grandparents. In 1857, one of the daughters of this family, Sarah Kenyon Heslop, left a sizeable estate to the children of her brother Horace. She directed that her slave, George Minor Mercer, be given his freedom and sent to a free state. I am going to pick up George's story in a future post.

Sadly, she did not set free her other slave, Rebecca Henderson. Instead, she directed that Rebecca be given to her niece Harriet Heslop.

Spotsylvania Will Book W. P. 328.

Sarah's estate was admitted into probate in Spotsylvania County, Virginia in September 1857. According to the inventory of the estate, it was divided among all the children of her siblings. Included among the list were children of Ann Graham Heslop - Rice Carter Ballard and my 4th-great-grandmother Emily Read.

Spotsylvania Will Book W. P. 78.

Separate from the will and prior to her death, in 1856, Sarah made a deed of gift to her nieces Julia Todd Heslop and Nancy Heslop. The gift was a slave girl Teny (also known as Courtney), and the girl's future first child (to go to Nancy).

Spotsylvania Will Book W. P. 81.

Courtney became the subject of several chancery cases starting in March 1858 involving the children of Horace Heslop. After the death of Horace in 1856, Sarah may have been caring for his minor children: Julia, Nancy, Lawrence B., Joseph, Walker, Sarah Elizabeth, and William Wirt Heslop. Following Sarah's death in 1857, some of Horace's children chose to move from Virginia to Ohio. This will be the subject of the next post.