Person:Nicholas Anthony (4)

[Alamance County_Feb 2006_backup.FTW]

From Bob's Genealogy Filing Cabinet II:

By the late 1850s, in his late 70s, he was suffering from some form of dementia. In September 1858 a jury was appointed “to examine the lunacy of Nicholas Anthony”.[7] In October the jury reported he “was a lunatic and unable to take care of his business”, and the court appointed his son Laton J. Anthony as his guardian.[8] Nicholas, who would have been about 78 at this time, died within a year, as his will was proved at the October court 1859, with the widow Sally Anthony and Laton J. Anthony appointed as his administrators.[9] The will itself no longer exists, but later court records make it clear that he left one piece of property to his children and his home place property to Sally during her lifetime with reversion to his children at her death.

The widow, Sarah, appears in the 1860 and 1870 censuses in the household of her son Laton J. Anthony. She evidently died sometime in 1873. A statement filed by George T. Anthony on 1 October 1872 states that his father Nicholas Anthony died in 1858 and his widow still resided on the property where he died.[10] An offer to auction the home place land date 4 February 1873 also mentions the land “on which his widow resides.”[11] But a document dated 29 September 1873 speaks of the “estate of our grandmother Sallie Anthony”, implying she was dead.[12] The settlement of her estate by her son Laton J. Anthony occurred after Nicholas Anthony’s death.[13] I failed to note the date.

At his death, Nicholas owned two pieces of property: 114 acres on Thompson's Creek in the 24th Civil District of Bedford County, and the home place of 198 acres in the 25th Civil District in Roseville. The 1860 and 1870 censuses show Sarah Anthony living in the 25th Civil District, and his children later stated that Nicholas (and later Sarah) lived on that property in Roseville. Nicholas Anthony’s lost will must have left the 114 acre tract in equal shares to his children, for they engaged in a protracted court case over the distribution of that land in the 24th District. Six of the children wanted to sell the property and divide the proceeds, while the rest preferred to partition the land. The records of this case clearly show the children (or their heirs) were splitting the property 13 ways because, before the case was settled, several shares and parts of shares were sold, in each case the shares being 1/13. For example, Henry Anthony sold his 1/13 share to George Thomas Anthony prior to settlement.[14] The case was in court before 2 November 1869 because on that date the court acted on the recommendation of a commission it had appointed to consider a partition of the property. The commission laid out a 2/13 partition for George T. Anthony (19 1/2 acres), who owned his own share and Henry Anthony’s share, and recommended the remaining 94 1/2 acres be sold.[15] The land was then sold to William Shofner for $3,780 and the proceeds divided 11 ways -- $341.39 apiece after expenses. George T. Anthony then immediately sold his 19 1/2 acres to the same William Shofner, completing the transfer of all 114 acres.[16] The case was settled on 1 September 1873 when the court clerk recorded that he was holding the money for each of the heirs.[17]

After Sally Anthony’s death (probably in 1875), the division of the 198 acre home place in the 25th District prompted a similar protracted court case, with the petition filed 4 November 1875. It stated that the land contained “the home in which Sally Anthony had resided at her death and for years before.” Again, some legatees wanted to partition the land and others wanted to sell it and divide the proceeds. This time around, the children traded their shares beginning in 1870, with some shares changing hands more than once. By the time the petition was filed, Layton J. Anthony had acquired the interests of Frederick, Roddy, Mary, Jacob, Elizabeth, and Young Anthony, giving him a 7/13 share, and argued for a partition.[18] He eventually succeeded and ended up owning the family home which he apparently had never left. Note that there were a smaller number of litigants in the 1875 case, with only three of the Anthony children participating.