COURT RECORDS: ISHAM, Johnathan, Heirs of, Bourbon County, Kentucky Submitted by: Connie Graves http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00002.html#0000474 13 April 2003 REPLY OF DEFENDANTS: Isham Heirs, 1822, Bourbon Co., Part 2 Bourbon Circuit Court Case #598 Jona. Isham's Heirs The answer of Nicy Isham, Elisha Isham, and Edward Isham the two last infants under the age of twenty one years by the said Nicy their guardian specially appointed to this suit, to a bill of complaint exhibited against them in the Bourbon Circuit Court by Charles Oneal Jr. These defendants saving and reserving xc for answer to said bill or so much therof as they are advised to answer, say they admit that the complaints Elizabeth and Henny are the children and part of the heirs of Jonathan Isham decd and that they intermarried with the complainants Charles Oneal & Henry Bathers. They admit also that said Jonathan departed this life on the --- day of --- about ten or eleven years ago and the defendant Nicy became his administratrix. The defendant Nicy states that an appraisment of the estate of said Jonathan was had and duly returned butt that no sale was made as there were but few debts and those she paid without selling chiefly by her own exertions. She denies that said Jonathan left considerable personal estate, and avows that there was no money left & no property besides the negros, except two beds & cloathing which appear on the appraisment, her husband and herself having only a few months, removed from Maryland, before his, the said Jonathan's, death. She denies that there was a horse or any livestock whatever. She admits she has made no settlement of her accounts as administratrix because she has had the care and management of the family ever since the death of said Jonathan and not been able to make any settlement. She denies that there were four negros at the death of said Jonathan and states there were only three, to wit, the woman Lindy, Moses & Peter, the boy Jesse was born since and is dead. She states that there are three children born since and living, to wit, Maria, Rosa, and Joshua a suckling. She states that at her husband's death she was left destitute and has since supported & reared the family of said Jonathan out or her own exertions & the little pittance in said negros. She states the woman Lindy is between forty and forty five years of age, and at the death of said Jonathan the boy Moses the oldest child of said woman Lindy was only seven or eight years old when said Jonathan died and Peter younger than him & neither worth hiring, at that time. She states the younger children of said woman are not sufficiently grown to produce hire. The woman Lindy has been a breeding woman and not worth more than her victuals and cloathes which have been furnished by the defendant Nicy to her & her children. She further states that the boy Moses has been hired for four years previous to 1822 at fifty dollars per year and this year 1822 for one hundred dollars, but the money not due until next Christmas. The boy Peter has hired two years for $40 each year, but the hire of one year was paid equally to the complainants. She states that the feathers in one of the beds were taken out and sold to pay for the coffin of said Jonathan. This defendant being reduced to absolute want at the time of this death, and she has paid $10. the physicians bill for attendance on him in his last sickness. She further states that said Jonathan left the two female complainants and two infant defendants his children, all young and helpless at his death, the oldest only nine or ten years old. She states that she has raised said children, boarded & cloathed them herself, since said Jonathans death, the complainants until their marriage which was at 17 or 18 years of age & the two others to this time, a great portion of which time they were not able to give any aid for their support by personal labour, the youngest being only three years old at her husband's death, she has also nursed them in sickness & paid physicians for their attention to them. She also states that she has had the expense & trouble of raising the negro children without any profit from the youngest ones and the boy Jesse, who died, was sick and subject to fits several years before his death and this defendant employed a Physician & paid him as she thought her duty. She states that she has done every thing which parental duty & feeling could prompt for the good of her children in the management of her husband's little estate & denies the charge of unwillingness or refusal to come to a proper & lawful arrangement with the complainants. She prays that her accounts may be settled & proper credits allowed her for debts paid & disbursments on account of the estate and the just allowance made her for raising, supporting, & clothing the children of said decedent, and the negors and also some allowance for her personal trouble, and also that her third part be assigned her as widow of said decedent. Thornton for Dft. Bourbon County Sct. Nicy Isham personally appeared before me a justice of the peace for sd. county and made oath that the allegations and statements contained in the foregoing answer so far as stated on her own information are true and so far as stated on information of others she believes them true. Given under my hand this 6th day of April 1822. Boon Ingels ************************************************************************ USGenWeb Archives Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. **************************************************************************