Person:Susannah Harding (1)

... The maiden name of my father's paternal grandmother was Susannah Harding, daughter of Thomas Harding and Mary Giles, of Henrico county.

She was born in that county in the year 1721-22 ; was married in the "hard winter" of 1739-40 to Charles Ellis of the same county, and removed with her husband and children to Albemarle county (now Amherst) in 1754.

He established the place which has since been known as "Red Hill," situated on the south side of Pedlar River, not far from Pedlar Mills; the same homestead which descended to his son, Major Josiah Ellis, and subsequently to his grandson, Richard Shelton Ellis.

Charles Ellis's will, dated the 8th of June, 1760, was admitted to record in Albemarle County Court on the 14th of August, 1760.

His widow married John Bickley, and she lived to the great age of ninety-five years. Several years ago I presented to the Virginia Historical Society, through Mr. Brock, the corresponding secretary of the society, a pair of spectacles which she had used in her lifetime (very different from any we are accustomed to see now), and I am glad to own, as a souvenir of her, a wine glass which belonged to her (and which also is quite different in shape from those we are accustomed to in these days). ...

... John Bickley' s will, dated the 25th November, 1792, was admitted to record in Amherst County Court September 16, 1793. Richard Shelton and Isaac Rucker qualified as executors of the will, giving bond in the sum of £500. By this instrument he gave to his "beloved wife, Susannah" certain household furniture, etc., "to be at her disposal;" and the remainder of his estate he desired to be equally divided between his children, namely, Charles, William and Joseph Bickley, Elizabeth Coleman, Mary Carter, Jane Holland, and Humphrey, Matilda, Hannah, James and Frances Bickley. The "praisement" of the estate, made by Charles Burks, John Eubank and John Burks, amounted to £325. 17. 6. It included five negro slaves, named Isaac, Arthur, Silvie, Oney, and Bartlett, valued together at £170. ...

... Susannah Bickley's will, dated 17th June, 1796, was admitted to record in Amherst County Court March 17, 1819. She leaves her entire estate to be equally divided between her nine children and their heirs, to-wit, Hannah Haynes, Edith Gilliam, Susannah Wright, Josiah Ellis, Marian Carter, Charles Ellis, Sarah Harrison, Bethena Leftwich, and Rosanna Davis. The executors named in the will were Josiah Ellis, Roderick McCulloch, and John Burks ; but they being all dead prior to the probate of the will, Thomas K. Eubank and John Ellis had given bond, dated December 21, 1818, as "curators of all the goods, chattels and credits of Susanna Bickley, deceased;" and when the will was proved, in 1819, the same John Ellis and Thomas N. Eubank "personally appeared in court with the will annexed, and acknowledged and entered into their bond with John Warwick their security, in the sum of $10,000, conditioned as the law directs, and certificate is granted them thereof in due form." ...