Chapter 7: John Charles Grows Up Even More Bad Blood: Custody of Teenage “Infants” and Their Inheritance
T
he RICHARD Family matriarch, Genevieve “Honorine,” died in 1821. She divided her estate among her children. Since her son John B. (William) had died a decade earlier, Honorine designated his share of the estate to be divided among his three children - Clarissa,
Betsy Ann, and John W. Honorine probably did not leave an inheritance for their mother, Rebecca HART, since she had since remarried, becoming Mrs. David G. JONES. According to the provisions of the will, Clarissa, Betsy Ann, and John W were to inherit two slaves each. Their uncle John Charles, executor of Honorine’s will, was to have possession of the slaves until the children reached the age of 21. Unfortunately, Clarissa had died sometime between 1821 (when Honorine wrote her will) and August, 1824.1 The natural question, “Who’s going to get her slaves?”
undoubtedly crossed everyone’s mind. In fact, all hell broke loose about who would inherit Charles and Harriet now that Clarissa was dead. Harriet was probably the same “Henriette” whom Honorine had purchased in St. Domingue in 1790. If so, she would have been about 33 years old in 1824. It’s difficult to assess how valuable Charles and Harriet would have been to the parties involved, but a possible indication occurred in March, 1823 when John Charles paid (off?) his sister Clementine $2,400 for her to renounce any future claim on their mother’s will. 2 Why would he do such a thing? One possible scenario is that Clarissa had just died (in 1823), and John Charles was planning on keeping the slaves for himself. Looking to decrease the number of people interested in Clarissa’s share off his mother’s will, he officially paid off his sister so that she would have no legal claim to the slaves. Adding to the intrigue, the location recorded for this “indenture” was Camden County, Georgia, but the transaction was recorded in St. Johns County, Florida. The details that gave rise to the next few events are unclear. Whatever the exact details may have been, it seems clear that ownership of Charles and Harriet – and the financial gain that this would engender – was the motivating factor on all sides of this equation. Around October of 1824, Betsy Ann and John William brought a lawsuit against their uncle, John Charles RICHARD.3 Although Betsy Ann, about 20 years old, and John W., about 18, would have been legally considered adults today, at that time they were both considered minors – “infants” in the legal language of the time. As minors, they had to be represented in court by an adult or “next friend.” Since the adult men in their lives, John William’s stepfather David JONES and Betsy’s husband