Notes on Transcription
I finished my rough transcription of John Sloan II's entire probate file from 1854. You can view it online here or download the pdf. I still need to do a more thorough proofread run, but that can wait until my wrists recover. When I came across archaic, idiosyncratic, or incorrect spelling in the original, I did my best to preserve it as is, so many apparent mistakes are in the original. |
| Decipher every word here, then the rest of the ~5,000 in the probate |
Sometimes I couldn't understand a word so I put my best approximation of the non-word it seemed to be, assuming at least some of these are old timey farming terms I'm simply unfamiliar with. Google was useful for some of these, but others got no results. I don't assume that means they weren't in use, but do take it as a sign I may be misreading them. For instance, a "hoaker" seems to be listed as some kind of farming implement one might get laid with steel and sharpened, but I can't find any other reference to such a thing. I'm sure some of these will be more obvious to other readers, and I'd love for any suggestions/corrections on my mistakes. Other words were clearly alterations which I preserved, such as "thrashing" and "thraching" which I took to mean "threshing" in this context. (John Hamilton, the administrator of the estate, lists a day spent thrashing wheat as one of his charges. You may say I got overzealous on this and they clearly meant "threshing," but I swear some of those have to be As!)
Probate Structure
The probate is structured with three main reports. The first, filed on October 18th, 1854, presents a summary of John Sloan's estate--everything he owned--which was auctioned off, as well as an account of who purchased everything and for how much. This is probably the part most readers would find most interesting.
[ Excerpt ]
No.
|
Description of Property
|
Valuation of Property
|
No.
|
Property taken by the widow
|
Valuation of Property Taken By The Widow
|
1
|
Two [r?]igs
|
0.5
|
1
|
Two wash kettles
|
1.5
|
2
|
Two hoes
|
0.05
|
2
|
Three crocks
|
0.28
|
3
|
Lot of Sundries
|
0.5
|
3
|
Hand saw & augurs
|
1
|
4
|
Shovel plough
|
1
|
4
|
Stool & furniture
|
8
|
5
|
Well bucket
|
0.25
|
5
|
Churn & two buckets
|
0.87
|
6
|
Lot of Sundries
|
0.25
|
6
|
[L?] Side Saddle
|
5
|
7
|
Pair of harness & chains
|
0.1
|
7
|
Six chairs
|
4
|
8
|
Scythe & Corn Knife
|
0.1
|
8
|
Three wheels & two reels
|
3
|
9
|
Two Ovens
|
0.5
|
9
|
Bed stead & Bedding
|
11
|
10
|
Cupboard & Contents
|
0.37
|
10
|
Clock
|
1
|
11
|
One Harrow
|
3
|
11
|
Corner Cupboard
|
6
|
12
|
Crop cut saw
|
2
|
12
|
Five acres of corn
|
22.5
|
The second filing, on September 28th, 1855, is an update on all the debts and services Hamilton has settled out of the funds from the sale of the estate. It begins with an overview that refers to each attached receipt by number, so "(8)" refers to receipt 8, where $14.00 was paid to Daniel Wedman Co. on Christmas day in 1854 in payment for coffin and hearse, "(14)" is for payment to Charles Fromm for John Sloan's tombstone, etc. The receipts are linked to in the table of contents in the order in which Hamilton labeled them.
[ Excerpt ]
The final reports, filed on Christmas day in 1855, show the last of the funds being directed toward court charges and attorney fees, and what is left over divided among the children. This also contains the notice from William K.Compton, the husband of Jane P. Sloan (the eldest Sloan child), giving up all rights to their share in the inheritance "For and in consideration of money and property Received of John Sloan in his life time".
Received of John Hamilton Administrator of theestate of John Sloan Decease forty dollars on saleBill December 13th 1855Martha SloanReceived of John Hamilton Administrator of theestate of John Sloan Decesed Twenty dollars onsale Bill December 13th 1855F.P. SloanReceived of John Hamilton five dollars and 25/100 cents onsale Bill. December 13th 1855Elisabeth C Sloan
Curiously, there is one single report filed after the final report, on December 31st, 1855, showing the $18 in medical expenses John had accrued during his final illness. It also notes $15 of this paid off by the heirs on January 2nd, 1856, which must have been added later since that's after the filing date. Did Dr. J.S. McClelland ever get his final $3? Perhaps we'll never know.
Final Notes
What can we learn from this? Well, aside from a great deal of wonderful details about John Sloan II's daily life (and that of his family), we now know that he was a reader, and very Presbyterian. Included in the receipts are payments to a James Prestley in New York City for four volumes of the United Presbyterian & Evangelical Guardian and to the same editor for four volumes of the Pulpit of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Since he was an elder in the first church in the area, the Providence Presbyterian church, it makes sense. This also coincides with the Four Brothers Stalwart letter, which says of the brothers that they were all staunch Presbyterians. (And from other research I need to develop further they may have come over on a boat with a Presbyterian minister and his family, which was quarantined off the coast of Charleston for smallpox. But that's little more than a notion at this point.)
 |
| Original Receipt From Treasurer |
Conspicuously absent is any detailed accounting on the division of land to the heirs, which I find odd. The only direct reference to his property that I recall coming across is a receipt from the treasurer for taxes paid on the land--that gobbeldygook about the "NE NE qn Sec 14 T 22" is about the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 14, which is the same language used on John Sloan's land patents. That's going to be one of my next lines of research, and should be well documented.
As a reminder, you can view the original documents I've transcribed here. I'd like to eventually get together a page where you can view the originals and the transcriptions side-by-side, but that is a task for another day.
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