The Heritage of Daniel Haston

 

James Roddy Estate Settlement

January Term 1800 (Knox County, TN)

James Roddy

On motion of Elizabeth Roddy and Daniel Hastings Administrators is granted them on the estate of James Roddy deceased, who have been sworn, and entered into bond together with William Tipton and John Desmond (Jun.) in the sum of One Thousand Dollars with condition as law directs.

Source:  Page 74 of Knox County, TN Estate Settlements, Reel # 1
(Volume 1, July 1792 - October 1811)

Questions:  

  1. Who was this James Roddy?

  2. Who was this Elizabeth Roddy?  

  3. Was she the wife of the deceased James Roddy, his daughter, or some other relative?

  4. Was she related to Daniel Haston in some way?  Was she a daughter of Daniel who had married James Roddy?  Was she Daniel's sister?

  5. Was she related to Margaret Roddy, the girl who married David Haston in this same year of 1800? 

 Elizabeth Haston Roddy - Tentative Conclusions

Comments:  

  1. Generally, the wife of the deceased was one of the administrators (Administratrix) of an estate settlement.

  2. Notice that Elizabeth Roddy and Daniel Haston presented the "motion" that they be the administrators.  They were not just conveniently appointed by the court.

  3. An Elizabeth Haston (or Houston? or Haiston?) married James Roddey in Washington County, NC (now TN) on December 21, 1793.

  4. As late as April 10, 1799 a James Roddy served on a Knox County, TN jury.  On October 9, 1798 a man by this name served on a Knox County, TN jury with Daniel Hastings.

  5. A Betsy Roddy married James Cox in Knox County, TN on April 9, 1801.  Was the Elizabeth Roddy of this James Roddy estate settlement the wife of James Roddy and also the same woman who married James Cox (after the death of her husband)?  "Betsy" is a nickname for Elizabeth.

  6. The oldest daughter of Col. James Roddy (of Jefferson County, TN) was “Elizabeth” but she was already married at this time and would have had a different name.

  7. A John Dermand (Desmond?), Jr. was a member of the jury that tried Joseph Haston in the 1800-1801 "timothy lot" case.

James Roddey Marriage to Elizabeth Haiston  / Houston
December 21, 1793 in Washington County, NC (now TN)
James Roddey Marriage to Elizabeth Haston/Houston
David Tate was the bondsman & James Stuart was the witness.
Source:  Page 120 of Volume O of Washington County, TN Marriage Records

Note:  Read the "Elizabeth H_____" name in the marriage document and determine for yourself what the intended spelling of her maiden surname was.  For a closer examination of the spelling of her surname, take a look at this highly magnified version.

July Sessions 1800 (Knox County, TN)

James Roddy

An inventory of the estate of James Roddy deceased was returned to Court by the Administrators to wit

7 Notes of hand payable in corn amount 131 bushels; 3 notes of hand for cash amounting to 37 dollars 75 cents; 5 head of horses, 8 head of cattle; 3 head of hogs, 2 Rifle guns; 1 silver watch; 1 sett of Plough Irons; 1 falling ax; 1 foot adj; 1 small auger; 2 chissels; 1 wooden wheel carriage; 10 lb Iron; 1 Saddle & saddle bags; 4 crocks; 2 tea kettles; __ gallon, 9 del__ plates; 3 pewter plates; 3 tin cups; 2 pots; 1 dutch oven; 1 dr_per, fire bell_; 1 pr. shoe leathers; 1 bed & bed stead; 2 Jackett patterns; sundrie cloathing. 2 smoothing Irons, 2 cedar piggins. One 1/2 pint bottle; some shoemakers tools; 1 spinning wheel; 2 kegs; 2 chairs.  

BOOK ACCOUNTS: William Gilliam $1.50.  John Heron  sin (Harrison?) $1.66.  John Wood (Maryville) $1.32.  John Singleton 33 cents.  Nathaniel Hays, balance 88 cents;  Michael Foster 62_ cents; Thomas Anderson, 70 cents.  John Rhea 79 cents;  John Litster $1.21;  Samuel Lindsey $2.60;  Thomas Hamilton $1.62_;  John Hankins 20 cents  James Mitchell (Blue) $1.87 1/2;  William Tipton 25 cents;  Andrew Richey 13 cents;  John Millar (Butcher) $1.25;  James Rodgers Jun. 73 cents;  David Clark $3.06:  Note:  There are some notes or bonds in the hands of Dennis Thomey the amount not known.

Ordered that the said estate be sold as the Law directs.

Source:  Page 77 of Knox County, TN Estate Settlements, Reel # 1
(Volume 1, July 1792 - October 1811)

Notes:  

  1. From the document in my Daniel Haston file, the administrators mentioned here would have been Daniel Haston and Elizabeth Roddy.

  2. I have not found any evidence (land deeds or tax records) indicating that this James Roddy owned land - at least not in Tennessee.  Perhaps he rented land from John Wood of Maryville, TN...as did Daniel Haston (as per the "timothy lot" court case record).

  3. He had book accounts, but it isn’t clear if this is what he owed or what people owed him.  Most likely, these are amounts owed to other people, such as John Miller, a butcher in Knoxville, and John Wood, a land owner in Maryville.

  4. Some of the people of interest on this list:

  • John Wood of Maryville:  The “timothy lot” that Daniel & Joseph Haston’s hogs trampled was supposedly leased or subleased from a John Wood.  "South of the Holston, opposite Knoxville" (where the "timothy lot" was) would have been toward Maryville.  William Tipton, who put up security money for this estate settlement, was known to have lived down in the south Knox County area, toward Maryville.

  • Nathaniel Hays:  David Haston cut the tails off of cows owned by Nathaniel Hays, who apparently lived near the Daniel Haston and the Phillip Roddy families.

Thus:  It would appear that this James Roddy was a neighbor of Daniel Haston, as well as a neighbor of the Phillip Roddy family.

  • Jane Roddy (some people have suggested that she may have been a sister of Margaret Roddy) married an Abraham Tipton on April 29, 1806.

  • William Tipton was also involved in the settlement of James Roddy’s estate, in that he put up bond money for the settlement process.

  • Abraham Tipton, in the 1815 final settlement of the James Roddy estate, was the administrator of the estate.  (Daniel Haston had moved on to White County, TN ten years or so prior to this time.)

November 1802 Guilford County, NC
James Roddy Estate Settlement Business

On November 15, 1802, Joseph Haston presented a power of attorney document to the county court of Guilford County, NC which granted him authority to conduct estate settlement business for the James Roddy estate, in behalf of Daniel Haston, administrator of the James Roddy estate.  From Knoxville, TN to Greensboro, NC (Guilford County, NC) today is about 300 miles, over and through the gaps of the Smokey Mountains.  What a grueling and dangerous ride on horseback that must have been in 1802! 

Philip Roddy (Phillip Roddey) lived in Randolph County, NC at the time of the 1790 census and for a year or so after, at least.  On August 7, 1798, Philip Roddy sold or gave 100 acres in Guilford County, NC to James Roddy and the transaction was witnessed by Moses Roddy (who proved the execution of the deed in court - Philip Roddy was living in Knox County, TN at the time).  The land was adjacent to Dennis Towmey who had purchased 200 acres from Phillip Roddy on February 15, 1791.

On November 7, 1802, Dennis Towmey of Guilford County, NC helped Joseph Haston sell 100 acres on the waters of Deep River to Samuel Millikan [or Millican] and John Redock [or Ruddock] of nearby/adjacent Randolph County, NC.  Apparently, the sell of James Roddy's 100 acres allowed his estate to compensate Dennis Towmey for money James Roddy owed Dennis Towmen that was mentioned in the James Roddy estate inventory. This scenario would seem to indicate that James Roddy was a close relative of Phillip Roddy - perhaps the son of Phillip.  Read more about the Philip Roddy family.
The following estate settlement of a James Roddy could be a final settlement of the 1800 James Roddy estate.  Abraham Tipton, the administrator of the James Roddy estate in 1815, married a Jane Roddy in 1806.  Since Daniel Haston had moved to White County by this time, it may be that Abraham Tipton (perhaps the son-in-law to deceased James Roddy) had been appointed administrator over some final details of the settlement.  While it may seem that fifteen years is a long time to bring an estate settlement to a close, in those days lengthy settlements were not unusual.  For example, it took 16 years to finalize the Daniel McComisky estate.

Source for following information:  Pages 163, 164, 241, & 244 of Knox County, TN Administrative Settlements, Volume 2 (April Sessions of 1815 & 1816)

Note:  It is possible that this 1815 estate settlement was for a different James Roddy than the earlier 1800 estate settlement.  "James" was a popular name among the Roddy families of early East Tennessee.


April Sessions of 1815 (Knox County, TN)

On motion Abram Tipton Administration is granted him on the estate of James Roddy deceased.  He having been sworn and entered into bond with John Wheeler and Jonathan Sharp his securities in the sum of five hundred dollars with condition as the law directs.

Page 163

An inventory of the estate of James Roddy deceased was returned to Court by the administrator and admitted to record, to wit…one horse, one saddle, and one bridle.

Another separate entry for James Roddy on page 163

Note:  It appears from this entry that by the time of 1815 all that was left of the inventory (which wasn’t much to start with) of this James Roddy’s estate was one horse, one saddle, and one bridle. 

Ordered that the perishable part* of the estate of James Roddy deceased be exposed to public sale as the law directs.

Page 164 (another separate James Roddy entry)

*Note:  It was common for early American wills to include this phrase: "the perishable part of my Estate be immediately sold [underline added] after my decease."  This may indicate that the 1815 "James Roddy" estate was for someone who had just recently died and was not the same "James Roddy" who died some fifteen years earlier.  The given name "James" was common, at that time, among the Roddy families of East Tennessee.

April Sessions of 1816 (Knox County, TN)

Ordered that Jeremiah King and Peter Nance be appointed commissioners to settle with the administrator of James Roddy died and ________ to next term.

Page 241

The commissioners appointed to make settlement with Abrm. Tipton Adm. Of James Roddy made the following report

The Administrator………………………………..Dn. ?  
(The end of this line runs into the  margin and I can’t tell what follows.  It appears to be a monetary amount.)

By __ recd. (I think that this is “recd.”) from the Father of the deceased he being principal Heir for………………. ?  (maybe another monetary amount ?)

                                                         (Then the signatures for)  Jeremiah King
                                                                                                  Peter Nance

Page 244

Question:  Regarding the “Father of the deceased” (the principal heir), would this have been Col. James Roddy, who was still living over in nearby Jefferson County, TN?  Col. James Roddy had a son by the name of "James" but no one seems to know what happened to him.