William Sharp's bill of costs to build the addition to William Corley's houseI'm wishing right now that (1) I had a better understanding of the law, and (2) I was more skilled at deciphering old handwriting.
My Virginia ancestors had a propensity for both suing and being sued. Numerous entries at the Library of Virginia's
Chancery Records site involve Colleys, Ligons, Mayos, and others in my family line. These chancery records seem to be some of the few papers that my grandfather Earl Colley never got around to examining in the course of his genealogical research. As such, I hold out hope that they might contain the answers to some of the nagging questions up our family tree. For instance, might they contain clues to the maiden name of
Richard T. Ligon's wife
Martha (the most recent ancestor for whom I have no last name)?
So far I haven't been able to decipher anything which answers questions of such genealogical magnitude, but I have found some interesting stuff nonetheless. One
chancery case that I found intriguing was the Cumberland County case of Mrs. Francis Sharp, administratrix of her husband William Sharp's estate, versus
William Corley's assignee Lawrence Blanton.
Corley had sued Sharp's estate for a debt owed to him. In an undated deposition, William Corley claimed that the deceased's estate owed him at least 30 pounds. Corley claimed that, on 16 November 1799, Sharp had signed a note to Corley agreeing to pay "fifteen pounds on Demand after the 25th day of December then next ensuing" and further that "the said Wm Sharp in said writing acknowledged himself to be bound to the plaintiff in the final sum of thirty pounds." Sharp never paid this debt. Corley goes on to claim that Sharp also owed him a $100 and $50, neither sum having been paid to Corley by the deceased or his administratrix.
The bond executed by William Sharp to William Corley
Apparently, on 25 January 1808, Corley assigned the note of thirty pounds to his nephew Lawrence Blanton, probably for a debt which Corley owed to Blanton. So, around April 1808, Corley and Blanton obtained a judgment against Sharp's estate. Mrs. Sharp apparently claimed that her legal counsel had "overlooked" the court date and so no plea was entered on her behalf. In August 1808 the widow appealed the judgment, asserting that her husband's bond had been satisfied through work Sharp had done for Corley. Now the estate was suing Corley and Blanton, instead of Corley and Blanton suing the estate.
The defendants responded that Sharp had never done any work for Corley "(after the execution of the note on which said judgmt is founded), except the sawing of 300 & some feet of plank, which ought to be applied as a credit to an open [ajc?] due to said Corley exclusive of said note." The Cumberland County Court ordered Corley and Blanton to appear on the fourth Monday in October 1808 to resolve the dispute.
On 3 September 1808, William Sharp's brother John deposed that he had witnessed the bond between Sharp and Corley, and he had done so while he was "beginning to get timber for the addition to the house that Corley now lives in." John had asked his brother how he expected to pay off the bond, to which Sharp replied that "he expected to do work to the amount of it for the work that he was then about would go a good ways towards the descharge of the bond." John went on to say that Sharp had told him he already had a balance due him from Corley before the work to be done to discharge the bond. According to John, his brother had offered to settle with Corley at his own house or anywhere else but at Corley's house, at any time Corley liked.
Several depositons were given on 17 September 1808. First, Corley's daughter Dicey Palmore (of lawful age) testified that, after Sharp had finished his carpentry work for Corley, he had executed a bond of 15 pounds as payment for a horse Corley sold to the carpenter. Upon questioning, Dicey answered that Sharp had sawed some 300 or 400 feet of plank for Corley after the bond had been made. Dicey's sister Gilly Corley gave the same testimony as Dicey.
John Palmore deposed that some eighteen months to two years previous, William Sharp acknowledged that he owed Corley "$20 exclusive of the bond."
John Webber testified that on his death bed, Sharpe had told him "that there was an unsettled account between him and Wm Corley the defendant that Wm Corley had his bond for £15 and that if the accounts were properly adjusted the said Corley would be indebted to him about 40s.[?]"
John Wright testified that Sharp had requested that Wright ask Corley to come to a settlement with him, as Sharp suspected that, when all was said and done, Corley owed him money. Wright claimed he forgot to deliver the message.
Lew Burton, for his part, said Corley had asked him to speak with Sharp about settling their accounts, claiming that Sharp owed him about 20 to 30 dollars. When Burton went to Sharp, the carpenter told him that Corley was mistaken, that Corley was indebted to him. Sharp further told Burton that he would settle with Corley anywhere but at Corley's house.
Burton Anglea (apparently Francis Sharp's brother) said that he and Wilshire[?] Burton had gone to Corley's house to settle Sharp's accounts. Corley had told them he had transferred the bond and that "he would have nothing to do with a settlement, but that Mr. Blanton to whom the bond was transferred might do so." Corley told them he had "no vouchers upon which a settlement could be made."
John Blanton testified that William Sharp had come to his father's shop one day in 1805 and observed that "he was afraid Wm Corley (or Uncle Billy as he called him) was mad with him" because, Sharp said, "he was owing said Corley some money, and was not able to pay him."
On 25 February 1809, William's son
Elijah Corley "of lawful age" deposed that "William Corley paid William Sharp at sundry times when he was building his house the sum of Forty eight pounds six shillings which sum was in payment for the aforesaid house." Elijah testified that Sharp executed his fifty dollar bond to William Corley after Sharp had been paid for building the house, and that Sharp did no further work for Corley after executing the bond "except the sawing of three or four hundred feet of Plank and two or three hours for one hand naling up som plank."
On 24 March 1809 Richard Sharp deposed that in the spring of 1800 he borrowed of William Sharp a horse for ploughing, which horse, a dark bay, was said to have been the horse that the deceased had purchased from Corley. Richard also testified that after this time, he saw William Sharp several times going back and forth from Corley's house where he understood William Sharp had been doing carpenter work for Corley.
On the same day that Richard Sharp made his affidavit, John Anglea testified that "to the best of his recollection" in 1799 he had seen William Sharp in possession of a bay horse which Sharp had claimed he had purchased of Corley. Anglea had seen Sharp doing carpentry work for Corley, but he could not recollect exactly when that was.
On 18 April 1809, Elizabeth Durrum [Durham] of Bedford County, Virginia, reported that her father William Corley had sold a horse to William Sharp "and at that time his brother John Sharpe was at worke at the sd Corley house and the sd J. Sharpe and my salfe wase called as wittnes to the sd bond."
On 24 June 1809 James Blanton testified that before Sharp's death James had been at Corley's house and that "Corley had observd that he had over paid Sharp for the work he had done for him twenty Dollars exclusive of the bond that he [torn] had of Sharps."
On 19 January 1911, Elizabeth Durham made an additional affidavit, saying "that about the time Wm Sharp finished the additinal work to her Farther Wm Corley's house he the said Sharp executed his Bond to Wm Corley for the sum of Fifty Dollars which Bond this affinant was a witness to." Lawrence Blanton then asked Elizabeth, "Did you not hear Wm Sharp, when he was doing the above mentioned work, say that Wm Corley was amongst the best pay that he worked for, for that he frequently paid him before the work was finished." To which Elizabeth replied in the affirmative.
Ultimately,
the case was transferred to the State of Virginia's Chancery Court at Richmond by
writ of certiorari. On 22 June 1813, the suit was promptly dismissed by the Superior Court, and Mrs. Sharp was ordered to pay the expenses incurred by the defense.
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