MARY KIRCHER RODDY
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Searching for Stories

Who Was Rilla?

10/2/2016

11 Comments

 
Picture
A cousin recently sent me some probate records from Lunenburg County, Virginia.  Included among them were some wills and inventories.  One was the inventory of the personal property of my third-greatgrandfather, Jeremiah Gee who died 8 December 1857.

“Inventory, [illegible] & appraisement of the personal property & Estate of Jeremiah Gee decd made this the 28th day of December 1857:

Paul                                                                                                800.00                                         
Charles                                                                                          850.00
George                                                                                        1,000.00
Richmond                                                                                      850.00          $3500.00
Ann & child Henry                                                                        900.00
Liza & child Louisa                                                                        850.00
Claiborn                                                                                          850.00
Will                                                                                                  750.00          $3350.00
Rosella                                                                                            850.00
Miranda & child John                                                                   800.00
Elvira                                                                                               500.00
Mary Jane                                                                                      300.00
Mary                                                                                                250.00
Rilla worth nothing more than a maintenance                       000.00         $2700.00”[i]
 
Who was Rilla?  According to this inventory she was worth nothing.  Less than an ox cart, valued at $8.  Less than one of his sheep valued at $1.50 each.  Less even than one of the 27 hogs valued at $1 each.           
 
I know nothing about Rilla, other than her name from this inventory.  Did she have children and grandchildren?  When she held them in her lap, when she sang to them, when she touched them - did they see her as worth nothing?  I hope to do some more research to find out more about Rilla.  
 
I struggle with the history of my family and the history of a culture that saw human beings as items of property worth $1,000 or $850 or $250.  I struggle even more with the idea that one of them was worth nothing.
 
I can only strive to do my part to make the world a more equal and just place.   I do this in the name of Rilla.
                                                                                                                


[i] “Inventory of Jeremiah Gee,”  Virginia Circuit Court, Lunenburg County, Virginia.  Inventories book F2, page 315
11 Comments
Sandra link
10/2/2016 08:51:25 pm

Thank you for giving voice to Rilla. Your post took my breath away.

Reply
Annette
10/3/2016 10:41:30 am

As a black American, thank you for being willing to explore a difficult subject. You are assisting to knock down the brick wall of 1870 that so many of us cannot breach. Regarding Rilla, it is possible that she was an older slave unable to work or disabled in some way, causing her monetary value to be $0. I look forward to hearing about what you discover.

Reply
Mary Kircher Roddy link
10/3/2016 05:41:08 pm

Thank you Annette. I have other names on that list that I hope to be able to bring forward to 1870 and beyond. There are a couple of scenarios that I can imagine that would cause an appraiser to say that Rilla was worth nothing. Still, hard to read, and hard to grapple with.
Thanks for reaching out.

James Morgan
10/3/2016 11:45:14 am

My fathers family traces back to Lunenberg as well. Being descended from a formerly enslaved woman named Violet Harris I particularly feel an affinity when I look at these names as well. As I read them I wondered if they could be my family members or if they at least knew my ancestors back then since they lived in such close proximity? That woman wasn't nothing, she was in fact everything even if nobody ever told her so.

Reply
Mary Kircher Roddy link
10/3/2016 06:24:12 pm

Thanks for your comments, James. I would imagine that my ancestors might have known your ancestors. Yes, I believe Rilla had value. Not to an appraiser, but definitely to those who loved her and whom she loved.

Reply
Schalene J. Dagutis link
10/10/2016 04:29:02 am

Thank you for contributing this post to the Slave Name Roll Project. I have added a link to the post to the page.

Reply
Chris
3/31/2018 06:01:41 pm

I believe these are my family members through my Great Great Grandmother, I'd love to talk to you!

Reply
Christopher B Harris
3/31/2018 06:13:07 pm

I actually have the DNA proof in my connection to Claiborne Gee.

Reply
Mary Kircher Roddy
3/31/2018 06:46:32 pm

Chris, I would LOVE to talk to you. Please email me!!!! [email protected] and we can set up a time to talk.

Thanks,
Mary

Tony
12/31/2018 04:38:23 pm

Mary,
Thank you for posting this. I too have DNA proof connecting me to Claiborne and other Gees. I continue to research the Gees of Lunenburg to better understand and piece together many of the missing pieces. Please be in touch if you are willing to talk more about the Gees and those African Americans who were connected to them in the building of what America has become.
Thanks for your honest investigation of this part of American history.

Reply
Cooper link
11/29/2020 08:01:49 am

I enjoyed this post thanks for sharing.

Reply

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    Author

    Mary Kircher Roddy is a genealogist, writer and lecturer, always looking for the story.  Her blog is a combination of the stories she has found and the tools she used to find them.

    Read more of Mary's writings at "Adventures of A Broad Abroad" and at Letters from Limerick

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