A complicated legacy

The FamilySearch Full Text Search has added court records from Barren County, Kentucky, uncovering a complex set of lawsuits involving the family of my 4th-great-grandparents, William F. Read and Emily A. H. Ballard Read. These cases fill some gaps in my understanding of the family, and indicate there was a closer relationship to Emily's brother, notorious slave trader Rice Carter Ballard, than I previously knew about. The Read family moved from Fauquier County, Virginia to Barren County, Kentucky in late 1847, and it seems Ballard set up his sister and family in Kentucky with the move.

The property where they settled in Barren County was purchased in trust for Emily by her brother Rice. William served as an agent for Rice in Barren County, while he was at his various plantations around the country. The second image below shows the 1850 Barren County tax record with William listed as the agent for Rice C. Ballard, overseeing 298 acres on Beaver Creek.

FamilySearch. Barren County Court, 1850.

Barren County tax records, 1850.

According to the land deed in one of the case files, on 20 October 1847, Rice paid $1300 to David Warren for the property on Beaver Creek in Barren County, purchased in trust for Emily A. H. Read and her children (see image 67 of the Barren County Court records).

Barren County, KY. 20 Oct 1847.

This puts the 1850 US Census entry mentioning the family in a new light. William, Emily, and children can be seen living on the property in Barren County, valued at $1300. David Warren's widow, Mary, appears two houses down from the Reads.

1850 US Census. Barren County, KY.

Rice Ballard brought suit against Mary Warren, John Cannon and Franklin Settle in 1850, with William F. Read listed as agent of Ballard in the case. The property was mentioned in a second action in equity in 1864, titled Elizabeth Lee v. Emily A. H. Read. The two cases will take some time to unpack, revealing a complicated legacy built on the backs of slaves. I have covered similar posts involving the Ballard family and slave-holding in the related Heslop and Carter families in Emily's line.

I will return to the records on the McKinley family in upcoming posts, as there are quite a few records in Spencer and Shelby Counties, and I am continuing to see if the McKinley and Beadle (Bedle, Beedle) lines can be pushed back further, prior to their arrival in Kentucky.