A copy, certified by the clerk of the Craven County Court on June 3, 1842, of the returns James Roach had filed as special administrator of John Fornes. It has three parts.
Inventory of John Fornes’s property not sold and notes found after his death, with returns of sales and hire, certified June 3, 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.
An Inventory of property of John Fornes decd. [deceased] not sold by Admr. [administrator] James Roach viz. [?]
4 Stocks bees [beehives] – 1 horse – 2 Cows & Calves – 10 head sheep – 53 head of hogs – 1 Cart – 1 saddle – 1 [pair?] hames [the curved pieces of a horse collar; partly covered by a stain] – 1 plough – 1 set plough gear – 3 hoes – 1 Axe – 2 Iron Wedges – 1 frow [froe, a splitting tool] – 1 bung borer – 2 augurs – 1 hand Mill – 1 old loom – 1 spade & Shovel – 1 lot old barrels – 1 frying pan – 3 pots – 1 dutch oven – 1 spider [a three-legged frying pan] – 2 tubs – 1 pale [pail] – 2 trays – 4 old baskets – 2 buckets – 2 handsaws – 1 Iron square – 2 drawing knives – 1 Adze – 1 hatchet – 1 pr. [pair] hames – 1 shovel & tongs – 1 smoothing Iron – 1 Coffee Mill – 1 shoe bench – 2 Chests – 1 Chest with drawers – 7 Chairs – 1 gun – 1 shot bag – 4 powder horns – 9 spoons – 9 bowls & plates – 2 dishes – 1 butter pot – 2 pitchers – 4 knives & 6 forks – 2 tumblers – 1 Set Candle Moulds – 1 tin Candle stick – 2 funnels – 1 pint pot – 1 bed & furniture [bedding] – 2 piggins [small wooden pails] – 1 grind stone – 1 saw set – 7 old files – 1 pr. compasses – 1 pr. hand bellows – 4 Jugs – 1 Keg – 2 pot trammels – 2 tin trunks – 1 Chamber [chamber pot] –
The following is an Inventory of Notes found after his death –
Note on James Roach & Alfred Chapman dated 11th March 1839, one day after date, good – } $200. —
1 on David Clark & Osborn Clark due March 22, 1839, good – } — 2.23 [?]
1 Daniel & Jacob Lancaster due 5 Novr. 1839, doubtful } — 100.
Daniel Parkins [?] Octr. 5, 1839, due same time, doubtful } — 3.40
Bryan Wayne [?] & Lewis Laughinghouse due 23 Novr. 1839, doubtful } 100. —
Jesse Fornes & John Fornes due March 2, 1839, doubtful } — 27.55
Jesse Fornes due May 18, 1839, doubtful 50. —
Ellison & Gardner due Augt. 16, 1839, bad 2.50 [?]
E. N. Williams & J. D. Bar [?] due 22d Octr. [no year written], bad 100. —
[Page 2:]
J. H. Holland & Jno. D. Holland due Septr. 9th 1839, bad } $300. —
Ephraim & Thomas Edwards due March 22d 1839, bad } — 15.50
W. Muckleroy & B. Right [Wright?] due March 22d 1839, bad – } — 1.05
Will. Muckleroy due 29 Novr. 1838, bad — 20.00
Execution against Jesse Fornes with interest from 25 June 1837, bad — } 45.28 [?]
James Roach Admr.
Amount Account Sales March 3d 1840 } $179.45
Negro hire 3d March 1840 — 126.50
Sales 31 October 1840 — 94.29
Negro hire 3d March 1841 — 190.95
Craven County }
The foregoing Memoranda are from the original returns filed in office –
June 3d 1842
Attest J. G. Stanly [?] Clk. [Clerk]
About the original
The first is an inventory of the property Roach had not sold, a fair list of a working farm household: bees, a horse, cows and calves, ten sheep, 53 hogs, a cart and plough, tools (froe, bung borer, augers, handsaws, drawing knives, adze, saw set, compasses), a hand mill, an old loom, pots, a Dutch oven and spider, candle moulds, a smoothing iron and coffee mill, chests, a chest of drawers, seven chairs, a bed, a gun and powder horns. Much of this was sold later by Jesse Fornes as executor (the July 1842 sale in this folder).
The second part lists the notes (IOUs) found among John Fornes’s papers after his death, each marked “good,” “doubtful” or “bad” according to whether Roach thought it could be collected. Only the $200 note of James Roach and Alfred Chapman and a small note of David and Osborn Clark were rated good. The debtors include Daniel and Jacob Lancaster, Lewis Laughinghouse, Jesse and John Fornes, “Ellison & Gardner,” E. N. Williams, J. H. and John D. Holland, Ephraim and Thomas Edwards, and William Muckleroy, and there was an old execution (a court order to collect a judgment) against Jesse Fornes dating from June 1837.
The last part totals what the estate had brought in: the sale of March 3, 1840 ($179.45), a sale of October 31, 1840 ($94.29), and two years of “Negro hire,” $126.50 from March 3, 1840, and $190.95 from March 3, 1841. That means that slaves who belonged to John Fornes’s estate were hired out by the year to other people while the estate was being settled, and their labor earned the estate more than either sale did. This paper does not name them, but the sale account of March 3, 1840, and the hire account of March 1842 (both in this folder) name them as David, Dick, Major, Jinney (Ginney) and Rachel.
Uncertain readings: the last word of the heading (“viz.”?); the amount of the Clark note ($2.23?); the names “Daniel Parkins,” “Bryan Wayne,” “J. D. Bar” and “B. Right” (perhaps Wright); the cents in the Ellison & Gardner note and the execution against Jesse Fornes, which are partly covered by stains; and the clerk’s signature, which looks like “J. G. Stanly.” The E. N. Williams note gives a day and month but no year.
Source: Inventory of John Fornes’s property not sold and notes found after his death, with returns of sales and hire, certified June 3, 1842. 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: 35986.
Part of the Roach Family Papers collection on East Carolina Roots.
