A second sale of John Fornes’s personal property, this time made by Jesse Fornes “as Executor.” The heading looks like July 1, 1842, although the last figure of the year is crowded against the edge. If that date is right, the sale came after James Roach had finished his work as special administrator. A special administrator was usually appointed only to look after an estate until the will was proved or a dispute settled; once that was done, the executor named in the will, here John Fornes’s son Jesse, took over. Jesse Fornes’s receipt to Roach for his share of the estate is dated July 26, 1842.
Account of the sale of John Fornes’s perishable property by Jesse Fornes, executor – July 1842
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.
80 [?]
the Count [Account] of the Sale of the parishable [perishable] property of John Fornes Deceased Sold by Jesse Fornes as Executor July 1st 1842 [?]
[Three columns: article; buyer; dollars and cents. Small crosses, “pd” and “paid” beside names probably mark who had settled; “Note” means the buyer gave a note. Lines struck through are shown as struck.]
one lot of hoes | Charity Fornes | .20
2 axes | James Roach | .95
1 iron wedg and plow | Ephram Edwards pd. | .35
1 ox yoke | Thomas Lewis Note | .15
1 hackle [a comb for flax] | Ephraem Edwards pd. | .05
[Struck through: 1 lot of planes | John McKinney | .50]
1 Saw 1 augar | Jacob Lancaster | .30
1 riddle [sieve] | James Roach | .05
1 Shovel and gun rods | Jacob Lancaster | .60
Square augar and drawingknife | Osband [Osborn?] Clark paid | .25
1 hatchet | Charity Fornes | .20
1 drawing knife | Ephraem Edwards pd. | .10
1 adz | Charity Fornes | .20
1 lot files | Osbern Clark paid | .35
1 pare sheep shears | Abner Hartley | .20
1 captass [?] | David Lancaster paid | .25
2 hammers | Charity Fornes | .10
1 box of trumpry [odds and ends] | Osbern Clark paid | .75
1 bung boarer [borer, for tapping barrels] | Alfred Chapman | .60
1 pare Styliards [steelyards] | Abner Hartley | 2.00
1 Spade large | William Gaskins | .20
1 do. small | Charity Fornes | .50
1 cotton gin | Thomas Buck | .35
1 plow | Osbern Clark paid | .25
1 loom | Charity Fornes | .25
1 grind stone | James Roach | 3.00
[Struck through: 1 cag [keg] & boxes | John McKinney | .10]
1 pare cart wheels | Lewis Laughinghouse | 1.20
[Page 2:]
3 Cheers [chairs] | Charity Fornes | .20
4 dto. | Thomas Lewis Note | 1.15
1 arm chear | Alfred Chapman | .70
1 Churn | Susan Clark paid | .40
[Struck through: Shovel & tongs | John McKinney | .50]
1 pare fire dogs [andirons] | James Roach | 1.00
1 tin trunk | dto. dto. | .40
1 dto. & pocketbooks | dto. dto. | .40
1 table & piggen [a small wooden pail] | Charity Fornes | .50
1 Chest | dto. dto. | .25
1 bottle | dto. dto. | .05
1 dto. | dto. dto. | .05 [?]
[Struck through: 1 lot powder horns shot bag | John McKinney | .15]
1 Shot gun | Jacob Lancaster | 5.30
1 chest | William Fornes paid | 1.00
1 lot Spoons | Lewis Laughinghouse | .10
3 Jugs | William Fornes paid | .65
1 dto. | James Roach | .65 [?]
1 dto. | Charity Fornes | .20
2 tunnels [funnels] | Lewis Laughinghouse | .10 [?]
1 bucket & crockeryware | Charity Fornes | .10
5 booles [bowls] | dto. dto. | .25
1 decanter | do. do. | .10
1 lot glass ware | do. do. | .10
1 butter pot | James Roach | .10
2 knives Candle stick | Lewis Laughinghouse | .05
1 Cubberd [cupboard] | Charity Fornes | .25
1 Chest of drawers | Thomas Lewis | 3.05
1 Saddle | Ephraem Edwards pd. | .05 [?]
Saddle hames & backband | Charity Fornes | .50
1 Spinning wheel | do. do. | .50
1 Shoebench & trumpry | do. do. | .50
[Struck through: 1 [?] bottle]
1 hand Mill | James Roach | 4.60
[Page 3:]
[Struck through: 2 froes | John McKinney | 1.00]
1 chane [chain] | Jacob Lancaster | .15
1 pot shovel tongs and trammel | Charity Fornes | .50
1 pot trammel [?] | James Roach | .25
1 pan | William Gaskins pd. | .10
1 pot and hooks | John Buck | .50
1 spider [a three-legged frying pan] one kettle | James Roach | .45
1 large bench | Charity Fornes | .05
1 pale [pail] & tubs | do. do. | .10
[?] pot | Lewis Laughinghouse | .05 [?]
[Struck through: [?] bees | John Gaskins [?] | 5.00 [?]]
[Struck through: 5 Stocks bees | John McKinney | 3.?5]
1 horse an cart | Charity Fornes | 26.50
pided [pied, spotted] cow and calf | John Gaskins | 8.50 [?]
[Struck through: Brindled cow & calf | John McKinney | 6.00 [?]]
large brindled heifer | Alfred Chapman | 7.60 [?]
small dto. do. | Charity Fornes | 2.00
Speckled heifer | do. do. | 2.00
5 Sheep first choice | Richard Chapman | 7.50
5 do. 2 do. do. | do. do. | 7.25
5 do. 3 do. | young Laughinghouse | 4.25 [?]
4 do. do. | do. do. | 3.00 [?]
the residue by the head | James Roach | [?]
1 bucket | Scott Spears pd. | [?]
1 lot planes | James Roach | .50
Shovel & tongs | Alfred Chapman | .60
powder horns shot bag | James Roach | .15
2 froes | James Roach | .80
5 Stocks bees [beehives] | William Gaskins | 2.60
1 Cow & yearling | Alfred Chapman | 7.5[?]
[Faint pencil total below the columns, perhaps 128.95 [?]]
About the original
This sale shows what was still left on the place after the 1840 sale: carpenter’s and cooper’s tools, a cotton gin, a loom, a spinning wheel and a shoe bench, chairs, a chest of drawers, a cupboard, crockery and glassware, pots and kettles, a hand mill, a shot gun, bee hives, a horse and cart, cows, heifers and sheep. Charity Fornes again bought most of the household goods, and James Roach bought a good many things himself. Other buyers included Ephraim Edwards, Thomas Lewis, Jacob and David Lancaster, Osborn (or Osband) Clark, Susan Clark, Abner Hartley, Alfred and Richard Chapman, William and John Gaskins, Thomas and John Buck, Lewis Laughinghouse and “young Laughinghouse,” William Fornes, and Scott Spears.
Every purchase by John McKinney was struck through, including his bids on planes, a keg, shovel and tongs, powder horns, froes, bees and a brindled cow and calf. Several of those same items were sold again later in the list to other buyers, so it looks as if his purchases were cancelled and the goods put up again.
Many amounts at the right edge of page 3 are blotted or worn, and some readings are uncertain, including “captass” on page 1 and the figures for several of the sheep and cattle. There is no slave named in this sale.
Source: Account of the sale of John Fornes’s perishable property by Jesse Fornes, executor. 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: 35985.
Part of the Roach Family Papers collection on East Carolina Roots.
