The account of the public sale of John Fornes’s personal property, held at his dwelling house on March 3, 1840, a few weeks before the Craven County Court formally gave James Roach, his administrator, leave to sell the perishable estate (May Term 1840, also in this folder). Buyers had six months’ credit on bids of two dollars or more, with notes and security; anything under two dollars had to be paid in cash. Most of the bids here were small, and “paid” was written beside many of them.
Account of the sale of John Fornes’s property, and hire of his slaves – March 3, 1840
Transcription notes: spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the original. Words in [square brackets] are editorial notes; [?] marks an uncertain reading and [illegible] marks words that could not be read.
Account of Property Sold at Dwelling house of John Fornes decd. on 3d day of March 1840. The condition of the Sale Six months Credit [struck through: for] and all Sums under two dollars Chash [cash]. Notes with Security will be required.
[Three columns: number and article; buyer; price. “paid” and small crosses (x or +) were added beside many entries, apparently later, to mark which buyers had settled.]
1 Lott of old axes paid | Joseph Pollard paid | .25
1 Pot | Jesse Forns | .45
5 Sheep @ 14/6 [14 shillings 6 pence each] 1st choice | Champ. Kinnion [?] | 7.25
6 Sheep @ 7/6 | Jesse Forns | 4.50
1 Tame Deer 1st choice | Edward S. Akelin [?] | 2.50
1 Tame Deer 2 choice paid | Thomas Edwards paid | 1.00
1 Tame Deer 3 choice paid | Thomas Edwards paid | .30
1 White face Cow | Sinclair Lancaster | 9.00
1 Red Cow & Yearlin [yearling] | Hannah Pearce | 9.75
1 White Back Cow | Thomas Lewis | 7.65
2 Small Heifers | Mrs. Fornes | 5.00
1 Black Yearlin | ” ” | 2.50
1 Sorrel Horse | Bryan Williams | 27.50
1 Bay Horse | Bryan Parrymoore paid | 30.15
1 Lott Coopers Tools | Jesse Forns | 2.25
1 Coopers Jointer | Jesse Lancaster | .55
1 Hatchett | Jesse Forns | 1.00
1 ditto | John Hutson [?] paid | .55
1 Carpenters adz | John Wathington [Weatherington] | .75
1 Sythe & Cradle | Jesse Lancaster | .60
1 Lott of old Ploughs | Wm. B. Nelson paid | .50
1 ” ” ” ditto | Edward N. Williams | .25
1 Lott of old Trumpery [odds and ends] | ” ” ” | 1.10
1 pr. Stilyards [steelyards, a hanging scale] paid | Wm. H. Butler paid | .25
5 old axes paid | Wm. H. Butler paid | .30
3 old axes paid | ditto ditto paid | .05
1 Lott of old Hoes paid | Church Chapman paid | .15
1 grubing Hoe | Jesse Lancaster | .40
1 ditto do. paid | Lewis Gaskins paid | .28
1 Lott Scrapers | Jesse Forns | .75
2 Lott Round Shaves | ” ” | 1.15
1 pr. Hand Mills Stones | Robt. O. Barr [?] paid | 2.30
[Page 2:]
1 lot Trumpery paid | Alfred Chapman paid | .10
1 Shovel & hames [the curved pieces of a horse collar] paid | Rebeckar Cason paid | .10
2 sets Plow gear paid | Seth Gaskins paid | .85
3 cart sadles [saddles] hames | Bryans Adams | .10
1 basket & lam black [lamp black] | Abner Hartley [?] paid | .05
3 Drawin[g] knives [?] | Hannah Pearce | .10
2 wedges paid | Edward Chapman paid | .25
1 Branding iron | John Weatherington | .30
1 pr. cooper compass paid | Thomas Edward[s] paid | .25
1 set Plow gear | Sinclr. Lancaster | .85
1 lot Trumpery paid | Edward A. Williams paid | .10
5 Sheep Skins | Wm. H. Butler | .35
1 Waggon [?] Wheat [?] | Wm. Lancaster | 2.10
1 Do. Do. paid | Rebecky Cason paid | .35
1 harrow and roler [roller] | Jesse Fornes | .50
2 Cags [kegs] | Isaac McKiney | .45
1 Chist [chest] | Jesse Fornes | .10
2 plows | John Clark paid | .15
1 Cross cut Saw | Isaac McKiney | 1.35
3 Jinney Dick Rachel [hire for the year] | Charaty [Charity] Fornes | 20.00
Davi[d] [?] [hire for the year; the name could also be read “Pair”] | Jese Fornes | 102.50
Major [hire for the year] | Charaty Fornes | 4.00
1 pair of Cart wheels | Jese Fornes | 4.00 [?]
1 Do. do. | do. do. | .40 [?]
1 Cart | Charaty Fornes | 5.40 [?]
1 lot of old barrels | William Fornes paid | .30 [?]
1 dog | Edward S. Acklen [?] | 3.20
1 Slut [female dog] | do. do. | 2.50
1 Saddle | Jesse Fornes | 2.75
2 hids [hides] | Charity Fornes | 2.00
1 do. | John Wetherington | 1.15
1 bible paid | Joseph Pollard paid | 1.00
4 Books | John McKinney | .50
1 lot of Books paid | Alfred Chapman paid | .20
2 Books paid | Joseph Pollard paid | [amount unclear]
1 gun | David McKinney | [1]3.25 [?] [the dollar figure is struck through or blotted]
1 ditto | David Chapman | 3.25 [?]
[Page 3:]
1 Table | Jesse Fornes | .35
1 Case and Bottles | John McKinney | 1.20
[The rest of this page is blank.]
[Page 4, a separate torn slip continuing the sale:]
1 Slate | Joseph Pollard [written “Woollard” or “Pollard”] Pd. [paid] | .15
2 dto. [ditto] | Jesse Lancaster | .15
4 Bells | Charity Fornes | .90
1 Deer Skin | Bryant Parimore | 1.50
3 dto. dto. | John McKinney | .60
1 dto. dto. | Bryant Parimore | .75
1 table | Addam McLeroy [?] | .85
1 Riddle [a coarse sieve] | [no buyer written]
1 Pot and hooks | Rebecca Casson Paid | 1.05
3 trays | William Lancaster | .40
1 Bowel [bowl] | John Weatherington | .20
[The bottom of the slip is torn away.]
About the original
The list gives a good picture of a small farm and cooper’s shop in the late 1830s: sheep, cows, heifers, a sorrel and a bay horse, three tame deer, cooper’s tools, a cooper’s jointer and compass, plows and plow gear, a harrow and roller, a cross-cut saw, hand mill stones, a branding iron, kegs and barrels, deer skins and hides, bells, a Bible and books, two guns, a table, and a case of bottles. Charity Fornes, Jesse Fornes and William Fornes, who also appear in other papers of this estate, bought many of the household and farm goods. Other buyers included Joseph Pollard, Thomas Edwards, Sinclair, Jesse and William Lancaster, Hannah Pearce, Thomas Lewis, Bryan (or Bryant) Parrymoore/Parimore, Bryan Williams, Edward N. Williams, Edward A. Williams, Wm. B. Nelson, Wm. H. Butler, members of the Chapman, Gaskins, Cason, McKinney and Weatherington families, and others.
Three of the entries on page 2 are not goods at all but the hiring out, for a year, of slaves belonging to John Fornes. “Jinney, Dick [and] Rachel” were hired to Charity Fornes for $20, a man whose name looks like “David” to Jesse Fornes for $102.50, and Major to Charity Fornes for $4. The sale list does not say so, but those three amounts add up to exactly $126.50, the figure the administrator’s later return gives for “Negro hire 3d March 1840,” and the hire account of March 1842 (also in this folder) names David, Dick, Major, Ginney and Rachel as “the Negroes belonging to the estate of John Fornes.” The very low figures for Major and for Jinney, Dick and Rachel together suggest that some of them were children or elderly people, whose “hire” was little more than the cost of keeping them. The money for their labor went to the estate.
Several names are hard to read, including the buyer of the first choice of sheep (“Champ. Kinnion”?), “Edward S. Akelin” (the same buyer is spelled “Acklen” on page 2), “John Hutson,” “Robt. O. Barr,” and “Addam McLeroy.” Some amounts on the right edge of page 2 are blotted, and the price of the first gun may be $13.25 or $3.25.
Source: Account of the sale of John Fornes’s property, and hire of his slaves. Roach Family Papers (#346), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, Box 1, Folder b (Inventories, Wills, and Estates, 1783–1868). Collection guide. Digitized folder: ECU Digital Collections, 0346-b1-fb.
Images courtesy of East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. View in ECU Digital Collections: 35979.
Part of the Roach Family Papers collection on East Carolina Roots.
