Ridgely’s Notebook III, 45
Orphans’ Court of Delaware, Sussex County.
March 9, 1820.
The petition states that Samuel Marshall married the petitioner December 5, 1805; that during said marriage he was seized of an estate of inheritance in land situate in Lewes, being a house and lot. That during the marriage Marshall sold the house and lot to Brereton which he now holds; that petitioner is entitled to dower in one third part of said house and lot. That the petitioner has not relinquished her right of dower, etc. That the petitioner’s husband is now dead. Therefore, she prays.
Kendal Batson, witness for the petitioner. Knows Mary Marshall, and knew Samuel Marshall in his lifetime. They lived together as man and wife several years and had several children. The general reputation was that they were man and wife. They were both raised in Lewes and their parents lived there. I’ve been acquainted with them many years. Their oldest child is eight or nine years old, I suppose. Her mother is living. Samuel Marshall’s father and mother are alive. Samuel Marshall is supposed to have been lost in a pilot boat last spring. There were five first rate pilots in the boat, and two boys. The boat has never been heard of, nor any of the people. Generally supposed to be all lost, — the boat in which William Harris’s two sons were. It was some time in the Spring, May, I believe, when the boat went out. Knows the house and lot in Lewes; worth between $20 and $30 per annum. Samuel Marshall had lived in the house. James Brereton lived in it when Marshall went out in the pilot boat. Does not know who occupies it now.
April 25, 1808. Indenture of bargain and sale, Aaron Marshall and Elizabeth, his wife, to Samuel Marshall, pilot. Consideration $163.00. A dwelling-house and smoke-house, and lot in Lewes. Acknowledged April, 1808, and recorded June 25, 1808.
Continued to next term, then to begin de novo. The petitioner was not prepared to make out her case, and the respondent was not attending to make defense if he has any.[1] . . .
Page 542
Judgment:
And now, to wit, this eighth day of March, 1821, the said petition coming on to be heard before the Court, and the allegations and proofs of the parties being heard, examined, and considered by the Court, this Court thinks fit to order adjudge and decree, and it is ordered adjudged and decreed by the Court that the said Mary Marshall, widow of said Samuel Marshall, do recover the dower of her the said Mary in one dwelling-house, and smoke-house, and in a certain lot of ground situate lying and being in the town of Lewes, fronting Shipcarpenter’s Street, beginning at the corner of the back street and the corner on Shipcarpenter’s Street, and running from said corner, along Shipcarpenter’s Street 98 feet, and from said corner along the back street 68 feet, said lot being 98 feet by 68, this quantity lying on the southwest side of the back street, and at the northeast corner of the said land and premises mentioned in the petition. And that the said dower be assigned and laid off to the said Mary Marshall.
And it is farther ordered and decreed by the Court that an order be directed to Caleb Rodney, Robert West, William Coleman, David Walker and Thomas L. Lodge, freeholders, to assign and lay off said dower.