Person:Abednego White (1)

Abednego Benjamin White (1734-1820) was born in Prince Georges County, Maryland. He and his wife, Mary, were married ca. 1770. They had two daughters, ca. 1771-1774. After her death, he married Elizabeth Steel, widow of George Steele, between 1783-1789. They had five children, ca. 1790-after 1810. The family moved to Fairfax County Virginia, ca. 1790, and later moved to Russell County, then Tazewell County, Virginia. Elizabeth died before 1815. He married 3) Nancy Blackwell in 1815 in Tazewell County, Virginia. He died in Tazewell County, Virginia. Includes his Steele step children. Charlotte White (1774-after 1850), daughter of Abednego Benjamin White, married John Ratcliffe (ca. 1765-ca. 1837) ca. 1797. The remainder of the work consists of records for the White, Ratcliffe (Ratcliff, Ratliff), Steele, and other related families, extracted from Tazewell County, Virginia, order books, 1801-1840.

FHL US/CAN Film 2055335 Item 12

Abednigo White came on the tax list the following year, therefore the assumption that he married Elizabeth between 1788 and 1789.

Abednigo White tax record:
1789 - paid tax on 1 slave and 4 cattle
1790 - paid tax on 6 blacks, 1 horse, 6 cattle
1791 - paid tax on 2 blacks, 1 horse, 4 cattle

[Dodie Elizabeth (Smith) Browning]

Apparently Abednigo had some legal problems when he moved slaves into Virginia. He was in court on 20 April, 1790 regarding this matter. In Fairfax County, Virginia we find in Deed Book"T" that Abednigo White took an oath that his removal into the State of Virginia was with no intent of evading the laws for preventing the further importation of slaves into the state and that he had brought no slaves with him with the intention of selling them, nor had any of the slaves he brought been imported from Africa, nor the West Indies, since 1 November, 1778 (when the law was passed in Virginia.)

It is believed by this writer that the slaves had been inherited by Elizabeth through her father's "Valuable estate" in Maryland. Elizabeth Steele and her sister and brother had already given one slave to their niece, Sarah in 1788. Elizabeth's father's "Valuable estate" was in Maryland, and since it was a tobacco plantation, it is more than likely that these slaves were considered part of the "Valuable" estate.

When a woman married in those days, whatever she owned became the property of her husband. Abednigo apparently found a way to guarantee to the Commonwealth of Virginia that he was not bringing slaves into the state for resale. On 20 October, 1791 Abednigo deeded three slaves (Milly and her two children, Lewis and Abraham) to his step sons, Richard, Ralph and George. The deed was recorded on 17 April, 1792 by Richard Ratcliff, in Fairfax County, Va. There is no f urther record of the Steele boys ever owning the slaves, but when the last Steele son "came of age" in southwest Virginia, (eight years later) the Russell County, Virginia records show that the three Steele boys went to court in Russell County and gave a Power of Attorney to young George's father in law, David Fannin for some ominous reason. There was no further record, so we can assume that their need for a Power of Attorney was to collect on a debt to them. Apparently the action was settled out of court, because It was shortly after, that the Steele boys started buying property. Apparently someone paid them some money for some reason, money that had not been paid until the threat of legal action. Abednigo still owned Milly and Abraham when he died in 1819, so obviously the Steele boys never received the slaves nor the money for them. It is the belief of this writer that they had to threaten Abednigo White with legal action to obtain what was legally theirs.

David Fannin was conducting business with Abednigo White shortly after Abednigo arrived in Southwest Virginia. Apparently Abednigo moved the family to the Russell/Tazewell County area in late 1791 or early 1792. There are no tax records for that area for 1792, but Abednigo bought property (70 acres) from David Fannin in 1793, and 220 acres from Shadrack White in the same year.

The Power of Attorney was more than likely to obtain their share of their father's estate, because a wife (Elizabeth) would have been entitled to one third of George's estate and her children would have been entitled by law to share the other two thirds of his estate. The Steele boys apparently never received anything from their grandfather Richard Ratcliff's estate, because when their mother married Abebnigo White, White would have gained control of his wife's money and property.

Abednigo's taxes were unusually low before he married Elizabeth Ratcliff Steele, which would indicate that he did not own the slaves until he married a widow with a large inheritance, nor did he ever own property in Maryland, nor Fairfax County, Virginia. The amount of tax that was assessed was based on a person's land and personal property. According to his tax record, he was behind in his taxes until after his marriage to Elizabeth. The last time that he paid Maryland tax was "Cash" and his taxes were paid in full, (including interest) for the years 1780 through 1788. His total tax bill was only 2 lbs. 13 shillings, including interest. This is not exactly the tax bill of an affluent man. From the evidence, it certainly appears that Elizabeth’s money was used to pay his back taxes and possibly to buy slaves.

This "cash" payment was about the time he moved over to Fairfax County and married Elizabeth. As stated earlier, The last year that Elizabeth was on the tax records was for the year 1788. In 1789, Abednigo White is on the Fairfax County tax list.