Part III-Abstracts of Steptoe Wills & Deeds recorded in Bedford County, 1822- 1824 DATE: 27 Aug 1822 PARTIES: James STEPTOE Sr. of the first part; James C. STEPTOE, George Steptoe and Thomas Steptoe of the second part; Lucinda [Steptoe] wife of Robert C. PENN of the third part DOCUMENT TYPE: Deed of Trust SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 17, p109 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "Frank and Mandy his wife, Peggy and her six children Mary, Maria, Tom, Dick, Kitty and Toby, Sally and her three children Isaac, Violet and Martha" COMMENTS: property conveyed by James Sr. to three of his sons to be held in trust for their sister Lucinda, wife of Robert C. Penn, "in such a manner as to be beyond the control of said Penn and without the reach of his present and future creditors" DATE: 24 May 1823 PARTIES: Mark ANTHONY of the first part; James C. STEPTOE of the second part; Henry BROWN Jr. of the third part, all of Bedford County DOCUMENT TYPE: Deed of Trust SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 18, p57 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "Judy, Lunkey [?] and Stephen" COMMENTS: conveyed by Anthony "in order to secure the said Henry Brown Jr. harmless as security in a delivery for him due to Samuel Clayton for the five hundred dollars the amount of a forthcoming bond" DATE: 24 May 1823 PARTIES: James MILLER to James C. STEPTOE, both of Bedford County DOCUMENT TYPE: Deed of Trust SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 18, p59 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "Nanny and her child Maria and a yellow boy called Bob" COMMENTS: to secure Miller's debt to Callohill MENNIS for $663 DATE: 22 Aug 1823 PARTIES: Lewis WATKINS of the first part, Robert STEPTO and Richard WALKER of the second part; William LANGHORNE and James MARTIN of the third part DOCUMENT TYPE: Deed of Trust SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 18, p117 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "Dick a Negroe Man slave and Jesse a Negroe man slave Nancy a Negroe Woman slave Flora a Negroe Woman slave and Anna a negroe Girl slave twelve years old" COMMENTS: Evidently, Langhorne and Martin paid $250 to Watkins for these slaves and other property, with Stepto and Walker holding them in trust, to be sold "to the highest bidder for ready money" when and if Langhorne and Martin directed them to do so. DATE: Aug 1823 (proved 25 Aug 1823) PARTIES: Pleasant HAYTHE, Cornelius CRENSHAW and Randolph DEPRIEST, of Campbell County to Robert C. STEPTOE of Bedford County DOCUMENT TYPE: Bill of Sale SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 18, p363 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "a male slave named Pleasant, otherwise Pleasant Rowan" COMMENTS: Pleasant Rowan was sold to Robert C. Steptoe for $390. He was later manumitted. (See 1 April 1824 deed of emancipation.) DATE: 10 Jan 1824 PARTIES: James T.[?] McALLESTER of the first part; Chiswell DABNEY and George STEPTOE of the second part; James C. STEPTOE of the third part DOCUMENT TYPE: Deed of Trust SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 18, p205 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "the following slaves, heretofore embraced in a deed of trust to William Saunders, named Jenny and Dick" COMMENTS: conveyed by McAllester to secure a debt of $339 to James C. Steptoe. McAllester is variously spelled in the deed McCallister and McAllister. (See deed dated 25 February 1822.) DATE: 1 April 1824 PARTIES: Robert C. STEPTOE to Pleasant ROWAN DOCUMENT TYPE: Deed of Emancipation SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 19, p43 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: COMMENTS: "for and in consideration of the general good character and conduct of Pleasant alias Pleasant Rowan now my slave and especially for and in consideration of an act of extraordinary merit done and performed by the said Pleasant alias Pleasant Rowan in the life-time of his former master and owner John Depriest late of the County of Campbell, in endeavoring to secure and save the life of the said John Depriest at the imminent peril and hazard of his own: Wherefore I the said Robert C. Steptoe for and in consideration of the premises & especially the act last mentioned: Have liberated, emancipated & from the shackles of slavery set free, and by these presents do liberate, emancipate and from the shackles of slavery forever set free the said Pleasant alias Pleasant Rowan." James Hendrick and Nathan Read were witness to this dead. DATE: early April, 1824 PARTIES: Joseph R. ROYSTER of Goochland County, Phebe Royster Rogers his sister, Timothy ROGERS her husband, to James C. STEPTOE DOCUMENT TYPE: Inst [sic] SOURCE: Bedford County Courthouse, Bedford VA, Deed Book 18, p287 SLAVES NAMED IN DOCUMENT: "Dick, London, Robert, Clarissa, Sally, Nancy, Mary, Frances, Daniel, Frank, Thomas & Abarilla, together with James a child of Nancy" COMMENTS: A complicated instrument that cites several previous exchanges of slaves between Joseph R. Royster and his sister Phebe, at the time of her marriage to Timothy Rogers. In the first, dated 18 June 1823, he sold to Phebe for $1500 "Dick, London, Clarissa, Robert, Frank, Thomas, Abarilla and Sally." Prior to her marriage, Phebe also sold to her brother "Nancy, Mary, Frances and Daniel," but they remained in her possession "and still do continue in her possession (they never having been delivered to him or claimed by him the said Joseph R. Royster), the said conveyance being without any consideration." In a third conveyance, executed on the 24th of July 1823, Joseph conveyed to his sister Phebe for a sum of $2000 "Dick, London, Robert, Clarissa, Sally, Nancy, Mary, Frances, Daniel, Frank, Thomas and Abarilla." In the above instrument, Rogers and wife Phebe declare their intention to sell the slaves mentioned in the heading above (including Nancy's child James) to James C. Steptoe "for a good and sufficient consideration." Evidently there was some doubt as to whether Timothy Rogers could be a legal party to the sale, the slaves being his wife's alone. 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