« Previous Item      Next Item »

 Requests share of father's estate. Inquires about her brother, Calvin.

  • » Date: 1842-04-29
  • » Subject: Requests share of father's estate. Inquires about her brother, Calvin.
  • » Written By: Nancy Orr
  • » Addressed To: Major James Turk Gleaves Sr
  • » Transcriber: Pen Bogert
  • » File # 995

Page 1 Image
Click to see the full image
Page 1

Facility Ten(nessee)
7th May

18 ¾

James Gleaves Esqr
Buffalow ford
Wythe Co
Va

Page 2 Image
Click to see the full image
Page 2

facility
Mc min April 29 1842

Dear sir
I have taken my pen in hand to inform you that i am well and that brother Jemes is coming in theare (there) in the month of may and if you have colleced in (any) money that you could send me the part that is loted (allotted) to me in my fathers will if not all send what you can spare to me and obledg me. with it you will please to drop me a few lines & let me no (know) what my parte is the reason I have riten is that I feel like one a lone in the world and that it is out of my power to come

I want you to let me know where brother Calvin is now if you know I have never heard from him since you rote to me last about twelve months now tell mother that I am well my complements to your family
Very Respectfully
your friend
Nancy Orr

J T Gleaves

Transcriber Notes

Nancy Orr (c. 1787 - ?) was the daughter of Randolph Rutherford (c. 1758-1841). She married James Orr in 1814. James T. Gleaves was executor of Rutherford’s estate in Wythe County. Nancy and James Orr and Nancy’s brother, James Rutherford, had migrated from Wythe County to McMinn County, Tennessee. Another brother, Calvin M. Rutherford (c. 1804-?), was a slave trader who operated between Louisville, Kentucky, and New Orleans.

From Wikipedia.com
McMinn County is located near the southeastern corner of Tennessee.  It was created in 1819 from Indian lands and was named in honor of Joseph McMinn (1758-1824). Joseph McMinn was a militia commander during the Revoluntionary War, a member of the territorial legislature, speaker of the state senate, and eventually governor of the state of Tennessee. McMinn died October 17, 1824, and is buried at Shiloh Presbyterian Cemetery, Calhoun, Tennessee.  Athens is the county seat.

From http://www.mcminncounty.org/lifeinmcminn/historicalsociety.asp (link no longer works)
An interesting historical note concerning McMinn County:
    In 1834, a Cherokee leader, John Walker Jr, was murdered in McMinn County. Walker was an advocate of the removal of the Cherokees to the west, and he was killed by two anti-removal Cherokees, James Foreman and Isaac Springston. The trial was held in McMinn County with Judge Charles F. Keith presiding. Foreman's attorney, Spencer Jarnigan, argued that the state courts had no jurisdiction over the matter as it had occured south of the Hiwassee River in the Cherokee Nation. Keith dismissed the case on these grounds, but when it was heard by the Supreme Court in June of 1836, the verdict was overturned, proving to the Cherokee that thier rights as a Nation did not supercede state law. The Removal Treaty, signed by Cherokee leaders only a few months later, sealed the fate of the Nation.  The foreman Trial heard in Athens  set the stage for the Cherokee Removal, known as the Trail of Tears. 

« Previous Item      Next Item »