Indebted to a brother-in-law

 

FamilySearch. Fauquier County, VA. 1844.

After locating the 1847 land deed from Rice C. Ballard to his sister, Emily A. H. Read and children, I had wondered why Ballard did not make the deed to Emily's husband, my 4th-great-grandfather, William F. Read. It could be because Ballard had already been burnt on lending money to Read, as seen in the indenture above from Fauquier County, Virginia. In June 1844, William completed a sale with William Rixey Sr. of Culpeper involving land he had purchased from Rice C. Ballard in 1833. The indenture also included a slave woman named Letty, and all the goods and furnishings on a plantation where the Read family was living, which was actually owned by Ballard. The transfer included four horses and twelve cattle. The crops grown on the property, wheat and Indian corn, were designated for Ballard for 1844 and the next five years through 1849.

The deed included a clause that Ballard be paid if Read and heirs left Virginia before 1 August 1849. As the family moved out of Virginia in December 1847 for Kentucky, going to land that Ballard purchased in trust for Emily and children, perhaps the clause is a sign that Ballard didn't trust Read with loans.

FamilySearch. Fauquier County, Virginia. 1844.