CHARLES M. COOK
1017 High Street
Houma, Louisiana 70360
Cookmmc@iamerica.net
11 December, 1999
Dear McCary Cousins,
As a descendant of Richard McCary and Susan Winn, residents of Fluvanna
County , Virginia during the first half of the 19th century, I began researching
my roots there over a decade ago. That led to discovering that I also descend
from Johnson, Mims, Anderson, and Napier, among others, from that area.
After researching through the mail, I made my first trip to Fluvanna in 1988.
We had known that Richard and his brother George were involved in the
building of the old stone jail, now a museum. We were unable to research in
the court house, but did visit the musuem. There, a lady asked if I was aware
that my ancestor, Richard McCary had been incarserated in the jail for,
“Shooting a man over a woman”. I was not.
I had photocopies of The McCarys of Virginia, written by Ben C. McCary. This
information was not revealed within. I was able to contact Ben, still living in
Williamsburg, VA., where he previously had been on the facality at William
and Mary. He was near ninety at the time we spoke.
Ben said he was aware of the fact that Richard had been arrested for murder.
He had begun interviewing family members for his book as early as the
1930’s. Some of them had been alive at the time of the Civil War and their
children living when he published in the 1960’s, so he did not mention it.
The following is the family version of what happened. Richard owned a
number of slaves. One night he caught a neighbor, named James Noel, in the
slave quarter, “messing with the girls.” Richard told him that if he ever caught
him again he would “beat him within an inch of his life.” About a week later
Richard caught him again. He was carrying a cane. He beat the man so badly
with it that he died about a week later. He was said to have been arrested for
murder and put in the old stone jail.
I discovered that local historians, McCary family researchers, and even the
now deceased county clerk, Richard George had never been able to find any
record of a trial.
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In about 1993 the record of Richard’s inditement for murder was found in a
box in the attic of the old court house.
Later that year I made a second visit to Fluvanna. That time I was able to do
some research in the courthouse. There was nothing in the indices regarding
a trial of Richard McCary. Then while going through the court records of the
appropreate time frame, page by page, we found it. There, all along.
Richard, having been remanded to jail after the inditement, was brought
before the bar a number of times. Everything considered, the trial was quite
ordinary. He was charged. A jury was chosen. Witnesses for the prosecution
and defence were sworn in. Many of those for the defence were related to
Richard, including his brother George. Some of those same people were also
called by the prosecution.
In due course, Richard was found not guilty of first degree murder. However,
he was convicted of involuntary man slaughter. For this, the court fined him
$5000 and one year in jail. In 1858 this was a huge sum. Consider almost a
century and a half of inflation.
Richard’s transactions, recorded in the deed books at that time were very
complicated. They involved a man named Richardson, and a notary named
Strange. Richard sold land to Richardson for something less than $5000, who
then seemed to put it into trust to Strange for an amount of over $14,000. Notes
were to be paid to Richard or his assigns over a long period of time, at interest.
Should the interest not be paid, Richardson would be in default. Richard
began to sell property and put possessions in trust to his eldest son, Walker
Timberlake McCary. The deeds of trust were “to be null and void should he
not be put in jail.” The records in the deed books did refer to “the pending
trial for the murder of James Noes.” Among the items put in trust to his son
was a slave woman and her three children, “for the sole use of my beloved
wife Susan”. An attorney might better analize this matter.
Two years later Richard was still in Fluvanna, and was shown to have put up
bond for his brother George to be constable, after being elected. Ben C.
McCary said that Richard had purchased some land in Tennessee. Ms.
McGehee of the Fluvanna Historical Society said that it is thought that Richard
went to Kentucky for a while. Other members of the McCary family are
known to have moved to Green County, Tennessee.
At any rate, this matter was ready to be closed, right? Not quite.
Several years prior to this incident, Richard made a will. The intire purpose of
the will was to free two slave girls, Margaret, and Emmeline, should anything
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happen to him. He set aside a sum of $1000 for them to sent to a free state of
their choice. In those days an emancepated slave could not stay in Virginia.
These girls were among the children of the slave Richard later put in trust
when he was about to be arrested.
Even on the surface, this seems unusual. When Richard did die, his estate was
administered by his brother George. At the same time, the man he named as
executor of his will received money towards the “legacy of Emmiline and
Margaret.” It was almost like two different transactions were going on at the
same time.
Now consider the following. The slave schedule of the census of Fluvanna in
the 1850 and the 1860 census show that Richard owned a number of slaves. It
was quite easy to identify Margaret, Emmiline, and their mother in both
schedules. The girls were shown to be mulattos. It would seem probabal that
these girls were the offspring of either Richard McCary or one of his sons.
That could explain his extreme reaction to James Noel’s actions. Because
Richard died after the Civil War, perhaps they were not required to leave
Virginia. Further research into this matter would be very interesting.
What of James Noel, who probably got what he deserved. In the 1850 census
of Fluvanna there were two males enumerated by that name. One was only
ten years old. The other was in his early fifties at the time of his death. In the
1860 census only the younger remained. James, the elder, was unmarried.
There was a number of Noels in fluvanna. The deed books show that Richard
conducted transactions with some of them. In fact he sold small portions of
land to James who would later suffer his wrath. One was about a quarter acre
that had been cut off from Richard’s land when a creek changed course and
left that portion on the other side. Apparently, James Noel was a neighbor,
right across the creek. Richard’s plantation was located between Rackoon and
Cunningham Creeks.
All this occurred long ago. We should judge neither of these men. They have
long since been judged by one more able.
At this point Martha and I felt that we had counted coup on the mysteries of
genealogy, and were prepared to crank up the old motor home and move
on…but wait! The end of this story has not yet come.
As we were preparing to leave, I went across the court yard to the old stone jail
museum. There, I met Ms. Minnie Lee McGehee. She told me that I should
visit the Palmer House Manor because it was one of the structures that had
been built by my Richard McCary.
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Upon arrival, I found a wouderful example of a 1830’s Virginia farm house. It
sat on a knoll, surounded by rolling grassy land that reminded me of the
Kentucky Blue Grass area. It was a three story structure with a separate
kitchen building.
Mr. and Mrs. Greg Palmer, the owners, had purchased it and moved from
California to turn it into a bed a breakfast. A crescent of cottages were
constructed on one side, each with it’s own fire place.
Mr. Palmer told me that his chain of title indicated that not only had Richard
built this plantation home, but that it had been his home. There was no doubt.
Grandfather, we have come home. Of course I told him, “We’ve changed our
minds. We want it back.”
Recently the Palmer Country Manor was back on the market. The asking
price was $750,000. It has been sold, but I don’t know what the selling price
was. It would be recorded in public records.
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