Thursday, August 12, 2010

What Does it Mean?

I have been working today to try and discover more about my 5th great-grandfather, John Furbush Turner (c.1735-1803). I've found a couple of trees that list him as the son of Andrew Turner and Sarah Read. Those trees list Redegil or Redicle Turner as John's sister. I found the following at Virginia Eastern Shore Public Library, Miles Files 10.0. I have bolded the part that I don't understand.

Thomas Savage III

Thomas was born circa 1688 at Northampton Co, VA. He was the son of Thomas Savage (II) and Bridget Robinson. Thomas was named in his father's will on 10 November 1721 at Northampton Co, VA. He was shown as a son Thomas in the will of Thomas Savage Sr., wife Bridget..1 Thomas witnessed a will on 15 December 1729 at Northampton Co, VA. It was on this date that Luke Johnson, John Smith, Jonathan [J] Savage & Thomas [I] Savage witnessed the will of Nathaniel Savage, wife Sarah, daughter Ansley..2 He made a will on 25 October 1747 at Northampton Co, VA. To my dau. Mary Johnson n. girl Tamar. To dau. Rhody Kellum n. girl Hannah and horse called "Biard". To dau. Agnes Joyne n. girl Sabro and horse "Batchelor". To my grandson Thomas White the colt that came of my son Thomas' mare. Also to my grandson Thomas White, Thomas Savage's oldest saddle. To Redicle Turner 500#t and all she has of mine upon the provisor that Andrew Turner will bear the Parish harmless of the child she now goes with, or else to return back. My son Thomas resid. legatee and extr. Witt: Nathaniel Rogers, Isaac Smith..3 Thomas died before 10 November 1747 at Northampton Co, VA. It was on this date that his will was probated..3

Does this mean that Redicle was pregnant with Thomas Savage's child at the time he wrote his will? Why would "the Parish" need to be held harmless? Does "or else to return back" mean that the legacy needs to be returned to the estate if Andrew Turner were to sue?

What do you think?

4 comments:

Lynn Palermo said...

Hi Apple, I love a good mystery. Do we know who Redicle Turner is and Andrew Turner for that matter, are they related to Thomas?

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

Lynn - I don't see anything right off that indicates any relationship between the Turners and Thomas Savage. I'll keep poking around and see if something comes to light.

Elizabeth Thomas said...

mencenooHow interesting.Looking forward to other comments.I've never seen anything like this.

Lynn Palermo said...

Hi Apple
Found this article on 18th Century Virginia law you may wish to read
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jcat2/18centvalaw.html
It might help you figure this out. I'm of the thinking that Redicle was expecting Thomas' child and attempting to provide for her. One line in this article caught my attention.
"If a child between the ages of 12 and 16 was married without her father's consent, the 1705 law stated she would lose her share of any inheritance to her next of kin. Note that with parental consent, a 12 year-old could be married."
If this were the case, of course just a presumption, Thomas was attempting to prevent perhaps a father or a brother from receiving this inheritance. It would go back to his estate. As far as the Parish goes, I'm no authority on Virginia law but I suspect separation of Church and State was not as it is today and the Parish had some part in such legal matters.
Until you learn more about Redicle and Andrew Turner, it will be difficult to know. But certainly there is an interesting story waiting to be uncovered.