Question concerning Dower land in 1700's Virginia

Question

What are the chances that a woman who became a widow sometime in the 1730's remarried in 1739 but waited almost 40 years to sell her dower interest in the deceased husband's land?

The second husband already owned land in his own right so there wouldn't be much need for them to live on her dower land.

I think it is more likely that the first husband probably died in the 1770's and the second marriage took place around 1778, when the widow and her new husband sold her dower interest in the first husband's land.  

What am I missing here?

 corrected date of deed

Comments

Are you sure it’s the same woman? I agree it seems unlikely that someone widowed in the 1730’s would be remarrying in the 1780’s.  Dower land only remained with a woman while she was a widow and then it either went to her children or new husband.  A married woman who signed a dower release for a deed was releasing interest in land owned by her current husband (which could have belonged to an earlier husband).

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Kathie, thanks for the comment.  I am fairly certain it is the same woman. The only record found for her is a deed on 23 Dec 1778 between Joseph Hubbard and Frances his wife, late widow and relict of John Cobb deceased releasing all their rights to her dower in the land of her late husband John Cobb deceased. They aren't actually selling the land, only the dower interest.

There is no source for the marriage between Joseph and Frances, and I believe the date of 1739 was assigned to this second marriage simply because Joseph had children born in the 1740s. I also believe Joseph was married previously as well and the children are all from that first marriage.

I just wanted to see if there might be a case which would make the date of 1739 for the marriage make sense. It seems as though you agree it probably didn't happen that way.

.edited to correct date of deed

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Were other family members involved in the deed?  They could be releasing her dower rights so that her children could sell the land.  I have seen that happen decades later.  I don't believe most women released their dowers just because they had other property to live on.  Any income off of the land set aside for dower would have also been hers.

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Is this because women couldn't own land? And, did their fathers give them land? Did the property belong to her or her new husband? I've always been confused about this.

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Married women could not own property. Men could leave property to a daughter and the law required at least one-third of a man's estate to go to his wife/widow to provide for her.  Whether single or widowed, when a woman married everything she owned became property of her new husband.  This lead to two different common actions.  One was a prenuptial agreement that the new husband would transfer any land or property that had belonged to the first husband to his children at the death of either new husband or wife, the other was the need for the woman to release her dower right to any property owned by her husband in order for him to sell it.  The courts took this seriously, the woman had to give her assent without her husband being present.

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Renee, the only names on the deed were Joseph Hubbard, his wife Frances widow and relict of John Cobbs deceased, and the purchaser William Eggleston.  I have no idea whether Frances had children from her marriage to Cobbs. Unable to locate probate record for John Cobbs or recording of assignment of dower to his widow.

I read the deed incorrectly before and they did sell the land, but there is no description of size or actual location of the property. This deed and the court order book are the only mentions of her anywhere.

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That is sort of odd.  It looks like whoever his heirs were, they would have also been selling their interest to him, unless they already had. If she only had dower rights, someone else was heir. There are tax lists for Amelia for that time period.  It might help to see who might have been taxed on the Cobb land after he died.

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I'm currently searching the tax records for Amelia.  They aren't indexed so it may take a while.

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Oh I know! I have spent many hours going through them! Some years are easier than others.

Answer 1

Unlikely, in my experience as a lawyer  set off of dower is usually done before estate is closed.

Comments

I'm sure the dower was set off for her previously, but am unable to locate a probate record for the first husband's estate.

Answer 2

Hi, Karen,

Not sure if it will help, but found a couple of references to laws at the time.

One is a 1967 Master's thesis at William and Mary, "Legal Status of Women in Colonial Virginia, 1700-1785"   https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4791&context=etd

Skimming through, I'm not sure it answered your question, but it's easy to access.

It also contains repeated references to "The statutes at large: being a collection of all the laws of Virginia from the first session of the legislature int the year 1619" by William Hening, published 1819.  It's available on Hathi Trust.  https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009714930  

I did NOT read through it , but the two together might be readable.

Comments

Hey Gayel,

Nice find on the thesis.  I've bookmarked it for my future use. It has some great information I was previously confused about. Unfortunately I still can't tell whether it is possible to wait that long to sell the dower.

If they had included an actual descriptive location of the parcel rather than just naming the county I might be able to follow the land. If I knew whether it was a third or half share I could tell whether there were children of the union and possibly the number of children. Thanks for sharing it with me.