Abstract of Will Books A, B, C, D, Ross Co., OH, Fayette Co., H S & DAR
The innocent looking little will abstract below blew up into a major court case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The will was dated 30 October 1833; Duncan McArthur died 12 May 1839 and the case regarding the probate of the McArthur will was argued (& reargued) in 1884 and decided in 1885. Mrs. Nancy McArthur predeceased her husband, dying on October 23, 1836.
#326
p. 440
Duncan McArthur of Ross Co., OH…
Wife Nancy, home farm “Fruit Hill”
To…John Allen Kercheval $60 per year during minority and at 21 $1000
Daughter Margaret Campbell Kercheval, deceased
When I copied the above abstracted will, it was the "Kercheval" name that intrigued me, not McArthur, because of Kercheval Street in Detroit (an earlier blog featured Benjamin Kercheval).
I was amazed that Duncan McArthur was a Brigadier General in the War of 1812 and was an instrumental figure in the war's Detroit theatre.
McArthur was Governor of Ohio 1830-1832; other details of his political life can be found here; other biographical information is here.
In 1793 General Nathaniel Massie led a team to survey the Scioto River area of Ohio; Duncan McArthur "accompanied this party as a chain bearer." See the book about Generals Massie and McArthur written in 1838 here.
General Duncan McArthur's children were Allen, James, Effie (married Elijah Coons & 2nd Governor William Allen*), Eliza Ann (married William Marshall Anderson), Mary (Married Cary A. Trimble, son of Gov. Trimble), Mary Campbell (married Robert Kercheval) and Helen Mar (married Alexander Bourne).
*Named as a model for author Herman Melville's character Alanno of Hio Hio in Mardi.
No comments:
Post a Comment