Supplemental Publication Information for Sarah Wansley and John Beck

Sarah Wansley Beck

Sarah Wansley Beck vs. B. Allen

Sarah Wansley Beck [widow of John Beck, died 1824]
State: Georgia Year: 1849
Location: Elbert Location Type: County

Abstract: Sarah Beck, an elderly woman, entrusted her property, notes and slaves to her son-in-law Beverly Allen. When Beck's son, William A. Beck, was in "failing circumstances," Beck instructed Allen to assume the payment of her son's debts. A promissory note was executed by William Beck who secured the note with fifteen slaves. Beck avers that her son repaid the debt to Allen, yet Allen never accounted to Beck for that money. She also asserts that Allen hired out three of her slaves, and never accounted for their earnings. Allen has since died and his executors, Lindsay Smith and Beverly Teasley, have refused to settle with the petitioner. Beck seeks a full and fair account of her property entrusted to Allen. [Race & Slavery Petitions Project University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PAR Number 20684901]

NOTES:

  1. Sarah Wansley Beck [1765-1861] was a daughter of John Wansley, Sr. and Mildred [Milly] Whitten. Mildred W. Beck, a daughter of John and Sarah Wansley Beck, married Beverly Allen in Elbert County, in Georgia in 1816. Beverly Allen died about December 1845 in Elbert County.

  2. In May 1819, John Beck mortgaged 1500 acres in Elbert County, Georgia and 32 slaves for $60,000. He defaulted and his creditors seized his land and slaves. After John Beck died in 1824, Sarah Wansley Beck petitioned for and received her dower rights to the land since she had not relinquished her dower rights. She might have had a dower interest in the slaves; however this was not documented in Elbert County, Georgia deed records but might be in Inferior or Superior Court records.

John Beck

Proof of John Beck’s inclusion in “Captain Harris’ Company”

  • Pay Roll of Captain Harris’ Company of Militia from Albemarle County. Joined the Army at Williamsburg, 19 Sept., 1781, and was discharged 6th Nov., following forty-eight days.

  • Harris, Captain; Joshua Fry, Lieut.; George Murrel, Ensign; Saml Shelton, George Maxwell, John Burges, Wiliam Bovy, John Blane, Sergeants.” John Beck was one of forty-six privates.

  • Burgess, Louis Alexander. Virginia Soldiers of 1776 Compiled from Documents on File in the Virginia Land Office Together with Material found in the Archives Department of the Virginia State Library, and other Reliable Sources.