This is another installment in a series of posts about my ancestor Catherine James Bellamy James. You can read from the beginning here: Kitty James & Child Marriage.
Lately, I’ve been working with a John Jacobi James researcher named Mary, who also happens to work in the Gallia County Genealogy office. Woo hoo! She reviewed Elliott Bellamy’s probate records and had some interesting observations.
Transcription:
Elliott Bellomy’s Estate
Gallia County SS Be it Remembered that on the twentieth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty five the appraisers heretofore appointed to appraise the goods and chattels belonging to the estate of Elliott Bellomy, deceased filed in the Clerks office of our court of Common Pleas Gallia County in the State of Ohio the following inventory to wit “Agreeably to the command of an order of the court of Common Pleas of Gallia County at their march from 1834 the undersigned have [illegible] and appraised certain articles the property of Elliot Bellomy decd late of the County ass[esse]d viz: 1 Bed and Bedding 20.01 1 Pewter Bason 1.06 1/4 $21.071/4
Respectfully submitted 24th March 1834 Wm F Gooldin, Philip Cubbage, Joseph Hazlett, appraisers.
We also certify that there is in the hands of Wm L Bellomy in notes and accounts for which the said William L Bellomy lord the chattel property of said Elliott Bellomy the sum of one hundred and forty nine dollars and thirty two cents $149.32
Wm Golding, Joseph Hazlett, Philip Cubbage
State of Ohio Gallia County SS I do hereby certify that the within named Wm F Gooldin Philip Cubbage and Joseph Hazlett appeared before me one of the acting justices of the peace of the County aforesaid on the 24 March 1834 and was sworn to faithfully & impartially appraise the goods & chattels which are of Elliott Bellomy late of Ohio Township dec[ease]d [illegible] Nehemiah Davis JP seal
End transcription
First off, there’s a date inconsistency there. Based on the other probate records involving Elliott’s estate, I assume this all took place between March 18 and March 24 of 1834 and the mention of “thirty five” is a typo.
Did anything strike you reading that record?
Three dudes appraised Elliott’s belongings and came up with a bed, sheets, a washbowl and $149.32. Why did it take three men to appraise three things?
Where is Elliott’s wife, Catherine? Why wasn’t she or their sons and daughter named at all? If she had refused to be executor it most likely would have been recorded here. Instead, Elliott’s father William is named executor, which isn’t unheard of but how could people assess the belongings of a man without mentioning the family members who use them every day. Why were they all handed to his father?
Curious.
These observations of Mary’s add doubt to my belief that Catherine James was still married to or living with Elliott when he died. But I still don’t think she was married to multiple men as the census records and the birth years of her children might suggest.
It also raised the possibility that the Elliott Bellamy who married Levina Cogshill in Greenup County, Kentucky, in 1827 might be the man who died in Gallia County in 1832. But on further inspection, I notice that “Ellet” Bellamy and Levina Cogshell had a double wedding with Andrew Bellamy and Lenna Cogshell. For both marriages, the women’s father gave consent. I find it hard to believe that a 31-year-old man with four kids would marry a set of (twin?) sisters with a family member. I think this might be the older Elliott’s nephews, sons of his brother Matthew, who lived in this county at the time.
Sources:
1. Ohio Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998, Probate Place: Gallia County, Ohio, Ancestry.com, Image 105, page 179. Accessed 12 Jul 2020.
2. Greenup County Kentucky Marriages, 1804-1850, Index (original record could not be found). FamilySearch.org. Accessed 12 Jul 2020.
Northwest Journals 