It was December of 1799 and the family of Isaac Rucker, Senr., of Amherst County, Virginia, wanted to allot his widow, Mildred, her dower in his farm and allot to his children their proportion of the estate.
Final part of the Agreement the heirs of Isaac Rucker entered into in 1799
Isaac’s widow and her children signed the document. Her sons actually signed the document. It was different for her daughters. Achilles Reynolds, married to Isaac’s daughter Elizabeth, signed for that share of the estate. The other daughter, Susanna, was married to James Tinsley. Apparently neither of them were present at the Christmastime 1799 Rucker family meeting. So instead of Susannah signing in her own right–which she could not do because she was married–or James signing for her share, James’ father, John Tinsley, signs for him.
There’s no power-of-attorney from James to John given. But John Tinsley is styled as the father of James Tinsley, husband of Susannah Rucker (daughter of Isaac). He signs the document as John Tinsley “for his son James.”
There are several James Tinsleys in the Tinsley family of Amherst County. This document makes it clear that the James Tinsley who married Susannah Rucker was the son of John Tinsley. I wish I just had other documents as detailed as this.
There’s a little more work I need to do with this James Tinsley–particularly to see if there are other documents in this court case that help pinpoint just where he was in December of 1799 when he was not at the Rucker estate discussion.
The Ruckers, in their 1799 agreement, appointed Colonel Ambrose Rucker, Spencer Norvell, James Hill, Phillip Johnson, and Reuben Norvell to create the allotment for Mildred and the children without an order of the court. As fate would have it, they ended up in court anyway.
More about that in our next post.
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