1843 – 1857 BRYANT’S DEATH & SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE -- COURT RECORDS

I was able to pull enough information from a very old and faded document to determine that Bryant must have been sick before he passed away in 1843. The document appeared to be a bill from a Dr. Robert N. Taylor for services and medicine for Bryant and one of his daughters. Dr. Taylor was paid out of the estate settlement. A book entitled, Pulaski County History, mentions a highly respectable Dr. R.N. Taylor who practiced in the Hartford Community in Pulaski County in the 1830’s and 40’s.

As far as a death notice for Bryant Peacock, no listing was found in the newspaper abstracts for Pulaski County beyond the information that Wiley F.D. Holder applied for letters of administration as published in the Union Recorder, Milledgeville, Georgia, 2 October 1843. Note the date is that of the newspaper rather than Bryant’s death date. Holder had made application prior to 2 October and probably sometime in September, which would place Bryant’s death in early Fall, 1843 at the latest. Usually, a brother, oldest son or perhaps a son-in-law was chosen as the administrator to settle an estate. Holder may have been appointed administrator because he was a son-in-law, as will be discussed later, or simply because he was a judge in the county. Hillary Henderson and Micah Johnston were taken as his security. Wiley F.D. Holder passed away before completing the settlement of the estate and Bryant’s brother, Cullen, was appointed administrator.

Bryant had a sizeable, working farm with crops and animals and perishable goods that had to be dealt with immediately. The appraisers appointed to sell all perishable property belonging to Bryant’s estate were James Dykes, Joshua Holland, James Holland, William Darsey, and James Runyon. The Notice for the sale of the rest of the property was published in the Messenger, Macon, Georgia, stating that the sale, for the benefit of the heirs and creditors of said estate, would take place before the Court House door in Pulaski County on the first Tuesday in January, 1844.

Bryant’s estate appears to have consisted of personal items; a Bible, a safe, guns, household furniture, clothing, as well as farm equipment, animals, including horses, hoges, (hogs), cattle, oxen, tobacco, coffee and large crops of cotton and corn.

On Jul 19, 1844, Wiley F. D. Holder, Administrator, paid from the estate to John V. Mitchell, Clerk of the Superior Court, for services rendered in the case of the widow’s dower. The report presented to the courts regarding the sale of the estate, listed a Mrs. Peacock, no first name, who was given the family Bible. She purchased her own spinning wheel and cards, furniture, household items, a sorrel mare and colt, a horse cart, a lot of hoges, as well as “marked” stock hoges, over 50 head of cattle, farm equipment, two saddles and a lot of corn. This would lead one to believe that she would continue to live on the farm, or perhaps she made these purchases for her children.

A Patience Peacock bought bedroom furniture, a loom and a chest. She must be an unknown connection to Bryant’s family. The rest of the animals, farm equipment, crops, etc. were sold to friends and neighbors. William H. Darsey bought a bay horse and bedroom furniture. Joseph Darsey purchased a clock and two lots of corn. James Hinson bought a lot of sundries. Douglas Adams bought a lot of hoges. Tira Gasert bought a lot of hoges. A. Coley bought cattle, oxen and a number of things I was not able to decipher. John F. Spivey bought sheepe, (sheep), cattle, wool, and farm utensils. L.T. Thompson bought a shot gun. There was more but these documents were very faded and I was lucky to have been able to extract this information.

Most of the court records were small pieces of paper, some undated, that had been microfilmed. Others were original records that time had done its dirty deed on and I am sure that some records were missing, i.e., the file regarding the widow.

CHILDREN

According to the documents in the Letters of Administration file, I believe Bryant’s children to be: Elizabeth, Priscilla, Alicia, Charity, Asa L., Kenneth J., Augustus, and Enos. There is also a Nancy Peacock who I believe was Bryant’s wife. She received the largest amount of money from the estate. This would account for the eight children in the 1840 census.

The 1820 census shows Bryant as having four children, one male and three females.
The 1830 census shows nine children, five boys and four females.
The 1840 census shows eight children, four males and four females.

Seth Darsey was appointed guardian of Enos and Kenneth J. Peacock.
William H. Darsey was appointed guardian of Charity Peacock.
Cullen Peacock was appointed guardian of Asa L. and Augustus Peacock.

The order of birth and the birthdays are guesstimates unless I have an actual date. They, their husbands or guardians all signed as heir to the estate. I understand that at the time of Bryant’s death, even if a wife were living, the children would have been considered orphans and would have been appointed guardians by the court, which was the case. So, the guardians signed in behalf of those children they represented and the husbands of Bryant’s daughters signed as heirs to the estate. This action would not go over too well by today’s standards!

Some researchers have suggested that some of Bryant’s children were living with Cullen. Cullen was appointed guardian of only two of Bryant’s boys, Asa and Augustus, who were never shown as living with Cullen on the censuses.

1. Nancy Peacock b. Abt 1815
She signed with her X as one of heirs of the said Bryant Peacock.

I am still leaning towards Nancy being the wife.

2. Elizabeth Peacock b. Abt. 1820
Elizabeth Holder signed as one of the heirs. Common sense in this case, I think, would cause one to believe that Elizabeth Peacock was one of the older daughters married to Wiley F.D. Holder, the first administrator of the estate. Common sense does not always work, however, when doing family research and since I have found no marriage record and no further record of her, I will just have to let it stand as a guess for the time being.

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