Boyd Crumrine's 1903 book,
Minute Book of
the Virginia Court Held for Yohogania County, First at Augusta
Town (Now Washington, PA) and Afterwards on the Andrew Heath
Farm Near West Elizabeth, 1776-1790, contained
transcriptions of court records for the area in southwestern
Pennsylvania that is now Washington Co., but which was under
Virginia jurisdiction at the time.
One of the 1778 court
records in Crumrine's book showed that the estate of William
Lindsay had been ordered to be inventoried. This was a
mis-transcription of the actual record, which was for a Widow
Lindsey. Below are documents that show that the actual
inventory was for a Widow Lindsey, and not William Lindsey.
In the introduction
to his book (which is available
online), Crumrine wrote that the records had been written
in a hasty manner: "The minutes of this
court, as well as those of the old Fort Dunmore court printed
with an introductory sketch in Vol. I., pp. 505-568 of these
Annals, are preserved in several old manuscript volumes
of unruled paper, legal-cap size. The entries in these order
books were evidently written hastily by the official clerks
during the sessions of the court, accounting for the
misspelling of many proper names and other words, and for
frequent illegibility. They may have been intended to be
copied out at length in the more formal records of the court
proceedings ; but it is possible that, as the courts
themselves as well as the Virginia territorial jurisdictions
ceased to exist after the final running of the southern and
western boundary lines, no other and more regular transcript
of the orders was ever made, and that the records now
published are the only ones in existence containing the
judicial business of these ancient courts."
I think that the record concerning the Widow
Lindsey was one of those that was written hastily. The
record probably said "Widdow Lindsey", but was transcribed
later as William Lindsey in Crumrine's book. Here is the
August 25, 1778 record as it was presented on page 251 of Crumrine's book: "Administration of the Estate of William Lindsey decd.
is granted to Michael Teggart he having complied with the Law.
Ordered that Tobias Mattocks, Joseph Ross, Saml. Brice, &
Thos. Bond or any three of them being first Sworn do appraise
the Estate of Wm. Lindsey and make return to next Court."
The actual inventory was conducted in 1778
by two of the assigned appraisers, Samuel Brice and Joseph Ross, and returned to the court on September 27, 1779.
Even though Crumrine's book covered the time period when the
inventory was returned for recording, no record of it appears
in the book. Court met on September 27, 1779 (Pg. 357),
and Judge Oliver Miller, who signed the inventory, was present
that day. Evidently, the inventory was left off the
court docket. Perhaps Judge Oliver Miller was waiting
for the third assigned appraiser to return to sign off on the
appraisal, and the third appraiser did not make it into court.
On the left, below, is a transcription of the
inventory. On the right is an image of the inventory.
Click on the image to enlarge it.
The inventory was located on FHL microfilm
#1449139, item 2:
Inventories of estates
(1776-1781) and record of marks, receipts, and certificates of
freedom (1789-1790), by the Washington Co., PA recorder of deeds.
Widow Lindsey's estate appeared on page 38 of the microfilmed
records. Of the thirty-seven inventories that were
recorded, all appeared in Crumrine's book except for Widow
Lindsey's and a few that had taken place in 1781, which was
after the time period covered in the book.
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