Rebecah W. Duncan - Letter, 1845

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

This first letter is concerned chiefly with Rebecah W (Pettus) Duncan's desire to receive a portion of her father William Pettus's estate. The portion she is seeking is a slave. William Pettus died intestate in York County, South Carolina in 1818. John Springs administered his estate. This letter was found in the store ledger of John Springs rather than in county records. There is not much family information in this letter except for a reference to her brother Samuel Knox Pettus, to the marriage of her nephew William Pettus (son of Samuel Knox Pettus), and to her deceased brother Stephen Bullock Pettus's daughter who is unnamed, but must be in Tennessee.

Gibson County, Yorkville, Tenn
Mr. John Springs    8 of Febuary 1845

Dr Sir   Your letter came safe to hand, it gave me Great satisfaction to think that you have taken it in hand to let me know how times ware. I had never heard about the Negros as you wrote to me Brother Samuel had told me about them he never gave me sattisifaction that your letter did when it came to hand as for Brother Bullocks child She is anxious for her part for She told me herself She wanted it Mr Springs if you could get but one for me I would Wait patiently the Period of time which God has fixed in his own Way it appears to me in Common lease of the Law that if all the Legatees except one or two ware willing Would not the majority carry the sway I ask your advice upon that acting for me as my Father I think it would answer in common case I do not know how it would answer in that point If you could get too I would be Willing if Mother is willing or wishes could get Clear of the Charg of the Smaller ones I am willing to take one of the small ones, and if Mother was anxious for a divide Could She or could She not Compell the children To a division I ask Your friendly and kind advice upon That Subject I am willing to ....one.  I am anxious For you if there is any chance to get one for me And I place grat confidese in you as my particular Friend believing that you will do all that is in your Power to assit me in that point If it is my good Success to gain in that point I expect to give Brother Samuel a power of aturney he has Some Idia of coming to that country this Spring if all Does well and nothing prevents I have that Subject as to the Friends and relations they are all well as far as I Know at present William Pettus was Married the 13

Instant to A Miss Macdonel I have nothing more at Present But fell myself favored for your kind Advice and answering of my Letter.

Post It Note comment from Louise Pettus

Mr. Spring if Brother Samuel Does come to that Country I wish if you please if their be any Chance at all by any means the you Could get me one for help So adding no more at present. But Remain your Sincere Friend

Rebecah W Duncan

Rebecah W Pettus at Steel Creek Female School

© Kathy Duncan, 2018


Back in 2005, which seems like yesterday by the way, my cousin Louise Pettus sent me this very exciting find. It is a record of my great-great-great grandmother Rebecah W (Pettus) Duncan, attending the Steel-Creek Female School in York District South Carolina 1820. It indicates that she well educated for a woman of her time, receiving instruction in everything from spelling to moral philosophy to embroidered maps!

A snippet of the original clipping article from the Western Carolinian newspaper of Salisbury, North Carolina:

Of almost equal excitement is the account and photograph of an embroidered map created by a Mary Elizabeth Hartt, a classmate of Rebecah W Pettus's at the Steel Creek Female School, in 1820. The detail of the map and skill of her needlework is breathtaking. Selfishly, I wish I could see the embroidered map that Rebecah W Pettus may have created. And, of course, I wonder what might have happened to it.

Rebecah W Pettus was fully capable of writing the letters that will follow in the next few posts. They were written to John Springs, who administered the estate of her father William Pettus who died in 1818 in York County, South Carolina.

Rebecah W. Pettus was the daughter of William and Mary (Knox) Pettus and the wife of Browning Duncan.

Will of William Kavanaugh; Madison Co., Kentucky

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

As we eagerly search through microfilmed records of counties, it is easy to forget that the records held by the county courts are copies. People took their land deeds and wills and marriage licenses to the courthouse to be copied into the county records. Prior to typewriters and photocopiers, all of those records were hand copied. As a result, we are lulled into thinking that we are looking at the originals, but the originals went home with their owners. What happened to them after that is anyone's guess. Initially, they may have been tucked away into a document or trunk. Eventually, thought, many of them were lost or thrown away or burned in a house fire or blown away in a storm.

Or maybe, just maybe, they eventually find themselves auctioned away two hundred years later.

This seems to be the case of my great-great-great-great-great grandfather William Kavanaugh's will, which auctioned a year ago (sigh) in Cowan's Auctions, an online auction house. I can't help but wonder where this has been for the last two hundred years. William Kavanaugh died in Madison County, Kentucky in October, 1829.

I'm going to post the actual link here on behalf of those who come later and want to see it in the Way Back Machine:

https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/madison-county-kentucky-will-referencing-slaves-including-two-that-were-to-be-emancipated-1823-891050

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Page one:

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Page two:

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Signatures:

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Nelson, A Slave in the Family

Nelson Kavanaugh Gets His Freedom and His Land

A Charles Duncan's Revolutionary Land Warrant

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

Land Warrant 1473 can be found in the Kentucky Secretary of State's web page:

Close-up:

No patent for this land was ever issued. Since there is no other identifying information with this warrant, it is difficult to say for sure at this point that this warrant was issued to my ancestor, Charles Duncan. So far, there seems to be two Charles Duncans, who served in Virginia. One who received his pay for service in Regiment 11, and one who received his pay for service in Regiment 7.

Charles Duncan, resident of Giles County, Virginia, stated in his Revolutionary War pension application that he enlisted in Faquier County, Virginia on 12 January 1777 and served in William Blackwell's company in Regiment 11 commanded by Col. Daniel Morgan. They were attached to the Brigade of General Woodford. He was discharged on 12 January 1780 in Fredericktown, Maryland. This Charles Duncan died on 24 October 1838, and his widow Margaret applied for a pension based on his service. A bible record was produced which listed their children as Buford, John, Elizabeth, Thornton, Ezekiel, Braxton, Margaret, Elsby, Nancy, Judith, and Sarah.

This would seem to rule out Charles Duncan of Regiment 11 as my ancestor.

Charles Duncan, Revolutionary War Service

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

My cousin Debra just asked me how we know that among all of the Charles Duncans in Virginia during the Revolutionary War that our Charles Duncan is, in fact, one of those Charles Duncans who served during the war. In other words, how do we, without a shadow of a doubt, correctly match our Charles to his service records? In essence, this question boils down to "how do we know what we know?"

That is the best question to ask, and one that we should never stop asking. Tradition says that our Charles Duncan of Culpeper County, Virginia served as "a Private in Company 6, Captain Blackwell's Regiment. He was granted land warrant #1473 on August 1, 1783 for 100 acres for three years service as a soldier on the Virginia Continental Line" (Charles Duncan, Wiki Tree). This source also provides a reference to the service records of Michael Burk, which supposedly state the Michael Burk and Charles Duncan served together under Capt. James Browning.

That sent me in search of Michael Burk's pension records, which are readily available in Heritage Quest.

In Michael Burk's pension S1174, there is an affidavit given by John A. Wright of Madison County, Kentucky on 9 January 1833 on behalf of Michael Burk. John A.Wright stated that Michael Burk and Charles Duncan, the father-in-law of Robert Covington of Madison County, Kentucky served together under Capt. James Browning. The following is the second page of his affidavit:

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The portion of the letter that pertains to Charles Duncan reads as follows:

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"He [John A. Wright] knows that said Burk served in the militia from said county of Culpepper in the service of the United States with Charles Duncan who is now dead, and who was father in- law to Robert Covington a resident of said county of Madison. That said Charles Duncan was a messmate of said Burke and a man of unexceptional good character, that said Duncan and Burke were commanded by a Capt James Browning --"

Robert Covington also provided an affidavit for Michael Burk. Checking the actual file yielded yet another bonus nugget of information--Isaac Duncan, a son of Charles Duncan, provided an affidavit as well. Isaac Duncan happens to be my great-great-great-great-grandfather.

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This affidavit is pretty standard stuff, but it appears to have Isaac Duncan's actual signature: 

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Plus, as an added bonus, this document places Isaac Duncan in Madison County, Kentucky, as late as 6 May 1833. Since I know Isaac was in Cooper County, Missouri by 1840, this bit of information helps me with determining when he left Madison County, Kentucky...some time after May of 1833.

This document does not, however, tell me that Charles Duncan served in company 6 of Capt. Blackwell's Regiment, although he is likely to have done so. It does suggest that he served for a time in Pendleton's Regiment of which Capt. James Browning was a part. Since Michael Burk served several enlistments for three months at a time, I would expect that is likely also the case with Charles Duncan.

This leaves more research to be done...

Iley Nunn Selph, Jr.

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

Some news never makes it into the papers.

Andrea (Selph) Vigil, of Taos, New Mexico, wrote an obituary for her brother Iley Nunn Selph, Jr. that seems to have never made it into the local paper. The result is this unpublished obituary that was found among Andrea's papers after her death. The obituaries of his siblings appeared in an earlier post.

Iley Nunn Selph, Jr., son of Iley Nunn and Carolina (Sandoval) Selph died in 1990:

Thank you,  Marcelle for sharing.

Jose Rafael Antonio Sandoval, Possible Parentage

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

The ongoing dispute in Sandoval research is over the parentage of Rafael Sandoval of Taos County, New Mexico. Most confuse him with Lorenzo Rafael Sandoval, who was baptized in Santa Cruz in 1779. However, that Rafael died in 1781. Most overlook, Josef Rafael Sandoval who was baptized in Santa Cruz in 1782. While this Rafael Sandoval seems like a better fit, I am not sure that he is the Jose Rafael Sandoval for whom I am searching.

Possible parentage of Rafael Sandoval based on baptisms recorded in Santa Cruz de la Canada Church:

Sandoval, Josef Rafael, bap 24 Feb 1782, b. 21 Feb; son of Luis Sandoval and Polonia Medina; godparents - Pablo Sandoval and Lugarda Quintana.

[Source: New Mexico Baptisms Santa Cruz de la Canada Church, vol. 1 1710 - 1794 byVirginia Langham Olmsted]

Flawed, but generally accepted  parentage for Rafael Sandoval:

The generally accepted parentage for Rafael Sandoval cites the following baptism record in Santa Cruz de la Canada:

Sandoval, Lorenzo Rafael [Truchas] bap 21 Aug 1779, b. 10 Aug; son of Feliciano Sandoval and Antonia Fresquis; godparents - Juan Antonio Sandoval and Maria Josepha Romero.

[Source: New Mexico Baptisms Santa Cruz de la Canada Church, vol. 1 1710 - 1794 by Virginia Langham Olmsted]

However, Feliciano Sandoval and Antonia Frequis’s son Rafael died in 1781 and, therefore, could not be the father of Diego Antonio Sandoval who was born about 1815:

Sandoval, Jose Rafael: Santa Yglesia de Senor San Josede gracia Rio de las Trampas.

Buried 1 March 1781; Spanish, parbulo, son of Feliciano Sandoval and Maria Antonia Fresquiz, vec. LDS Film #016869.

[Source: New Mexico Deaths: San Lorenzo de Picuris Church, 17 April 1728 to 17 February 1861 by Betty Sanches Pacheco. Albuquerque Public Library]

This record would seem to rule out the son of Feliciano Sandoval and Maria Antonia Fresquis as the same Jose Rafael Antonio Sandoval who resided in Taos County, New Mexico.

Since Feliciano Sandoval’s wife was a Fresquis, would that eliminate the possibility that "our" Rafael is their son based on his marriage to Apolonia Fresquis? Would the two women be too close in blood for this marriage to be approved? Is there a letter to the church, asking permission for Rafael Sandoval and Apolonia Fresquez to marry?