Some more on Benjamin and Mary Catlett./Alice Gedge
Colonial Caroline A History of Caroline County, Virginia, 1954, by T.E.
Campbell, FHL book #975.5362 H2c
Catlett, Benjamin, 146,152, 153, 180, 365, 452, 454
Catlett, Mary 134, 435, 471, 480, 488
THE RULE OF DINWIDDIE
p.133-134.sometime around 1750
.Lewis Burwell, scion of a great English family transplanted to Virginia had
watched with disgust Gooch's lax attitude towards the enforcement of the
laws compelling all free persons to attend services of the established
religion, which he along with his fellow members of the great landlord caste
regarded as a bulwark of the existing order. Immediately after he became
governor he took steps to correct this situation. His actions led to the
fining of ten persons in Caroline "for failing to frequent their parish
church for a period of two months." This was the largest number fined for
this offense at a single session of the local court since Margaret Connor
used the law to indulge in personal spites. Those punished were in no sense
from the riffraff. They included Mary Catlett, a member of one of the
county's most cultured families, John Bowie, a thrifty planter and brother
of the celebrated James Bowie, John Miller, a constable and leading business
man of Port Royal, William parker, who in a few years was to become a king's
magistrate, and Thomas Hackett, a Quaker, whom the court had no right to
fine.
p.145-146
The Caroline sheriff made no attempt to collect the new tax on
wheels, and fw owners of luxury vehicles volunteered to pay these levies.
They remained in arrears until 1762 when Francis Fauquier, who succeeded
Dinwiddie as governor, forced their collection by ordering the local courts
to indite all delinquent taxpayers. The list of the indited reads like "who
is who" in Caroline for the decade 1752-62. It included almost everyone of
social prominence or wealth;. George Catlett, planter, Thomas Collins,
planter, Benjamin Catlett, planter,.
p.152-153
Desertions by men in uniform were frequent. The most notorious
which involved a resident of Caroline County was that of Benjamin Catlett,
who quit his battalion at Fr. Mindenhall and returned to his home. William
Woodford, who was in command of Ft. Mindenhall, sent two of his lieutenants,
Anthony Thornton and James Taylor, Jr., to Caroline with orders to arrest
Catlett and bring him back to his duty station for trial by court martial.
But the fugitive after his arrest managed to get his case before the local
civil court, and at the ensuing trial the magistrates exonerated him of
desertion and ordered his release from the militia on the grounds that
further service imposed undue hardship upon him and his family.
The magistrates were sympathetic with Catlett because a majority
of them were in a position similar to his: men of property going broke.
They wanted to
give him a chance to straighten out his finances before it was too late.
British merchants were about to take over Virginia.; The planters ran their
operations on credit and paid their bills with the certificate they received
when they brought their tobacco to the chartered warehouses for processing.
The droughts of 1755 and 1756 had ruined all crops. There was no tobacco
for processing and no warehouse certificates with which to pay bills. The
creditor merchants refused to admit that the lack of rainfall was an act of
God and grant moratoriums. Instead they insisted upon the payment of all
accounts in full when they fell due. Thomas Buckner, Zachery Taliaferro,
James Taliaferro, Lundsford Lomax, Joseph Redd and John Plant, who, like
Benjamin Catlett, were among the wealthiest planters in the county before
the crop failures, were on the brink of Bankruptcy. Relatives saved
Buckner, the Taliaferros and Catlett, temporarily at least, and Lomax
managed to salvage a portion of his estate because he was among the largest
landowners in Virginia, but Redd and Plant were forced to surrender all
their property to their creditors and take the pauper's oath.
THE RULE OF FRANCIS FAUQUIER
p.180
By 1763 not even crops growing in fields were safe from creditor's claims.
During the summer of that year, Robert Gilchrist and James Miller, Port
Royal merchants, levied on Benjamin Catlett's growing tobacco. After the
levy, Catlett promptly abandoned the crop, and Gilchrist and Miller sought
an injunction to force him to cultivate and harvest it to prevent waste.
The ensuing litigation brought Peyton Randolph and George Wythe, two of the
most eminent lawyers in Virginia, to Caroline as counsel. The local court's
decision to grant the injunction was sustained by the General Court of the
Colony and became ruling case law in Virginia.
THE PEOPLE
p.365
1762-John Baylor-failed to list chariot for taxation; .George
Catlett,.Benjamin Catlett.--failed to list chaise for taxation-excused by
the court upon the payment of the tax.
p.435
1751-Mary Catlett, John Bowie, John Miller, William Parker-failed to
frequent their parish church for two months-5 shillings or 50 lbs. of
tobacco fine.
p.452
The Catlett case grew out of a dispute over the Catlett fortune. Benjamin
Catlett was in serious financial difficulties and he coveted the portion of
his father's estate inherited by his brother, William, a bachelor and an
eccentric. Benjamin Catlett had deserted the Caroline militia when it was
stationed at Fort Mindenhall on the frontier during the French and Indian
War and returned to his home in the county to attempt to recoup his finances
before he went broke. Col. (later Gen.)
William Woodford, commanding officer of the Caroline Militia, sent for him
to stand court martial for desertion but the civil court in Caroline
released him from the militia and ruled that he might remain in Caroline and
look after his affairs much to the dismay of Woodford. This break did not
save him, however, his finances went steadily from bad to worse. He looked
covetously at the inheritance of his brother, William, and sought to gain
control of it. To do this he moved the court to declare William insane and
make him committee. Some of Caroline's most celebrated magistrates, Anthony
Thornton, Lundsford Lomax and Robert Gilchrist, examined William Catlett and
declared him unfit to manage his affairs. Benjamin Catlett became committee
but other members of the Catlett family were dissatisfied and moved to have
the appointment set aside. The court agreed with them and ordered William
committed to the Public Hospital for the Insane in Williamsburg. Benjamin
tried to nullify this order by hiding William. The court ordered him to
produce the patient at once, and when he refused cited him for contempt.
Rather than go to jailor abjectly surrender Benjamin tried to work out a
compromise. He was successful. The court agreed to place the unfortunate
William in the custody of one Francis Barbee, and convey to Barbee a portion
of his estate to support him for the rest of his life. William lived out his
life with Barbee and the Catletts shared the portion of his estate he did
not need for his own use.
p.454
1756-Benjamin Catlett-desertion from militia at Fr. Mindenhall-case
dismissed.
p.480
1768-Decedent-Mary Catlett; Exec. Or Adm.-Thomas Slaughter, Thomas Royston,
John Jeter, Giles Samue
p.487-488
GUARDIANS and WARDS
Prior to 1750 few orphans had guardians in Caroline. The Order Books list
those of record in 1740 when the court ordered all guardians to file their
accounts in accordance with a new act of the General Assembly. These
guardians with their wards were:
.Mary Catlett, spinster, guardian of Elizabeth Evins, dismissed because
Elizabeth had married.