G. THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM MEREDITH LAMBETH WRITTEN IN 1851
(William was the first cousin of Catherine “Kitty” Spence Pitts the mother of Ellen Nancy Pitts Allen, my father’s grandmother.)
“Cousin Willie Lambeth” was mentioned by Grandma Kitty in her letter written in 1828. His Will was proved in 1853. His Will is included here to help show the care and financial support he gave to his five nieces and nephews, the children of his sister Frances Bernard Lambeth Pitts and her husband/cousin Thomas H. Pitts. Sometime before 1838 Frances and her children left Virginia and her husband, for reasons that are presented in section J. below, for Kentucky and eventually Missouri.
The undersigned W. M. Lambeth [about 51] of New Orleans State Louis. feeling in a strong degree the uncertainty of life and intending to be abroad from the United States for some months, do make this my last Will and Testament.
I have neither father nor mother living and but one collateral relative my Sister Frances Bernard Pitts who has five children whom I have mostly raised and educated and for whom I entertain the strongest affection.
It is my sincere wish that all my just debts be paid as rapidly as it is possible from sale of such property as my executors may deem most advisable to dispose of and from the income of my productive property as well as the collection of debts due me.
To my nieces and nephews Mary [37], William [32], George [29], Belle [21] and Jenny [20] Pitts, children of my Sister, I give the Lucky Hit Plantation, negroes, stock, farming utensils and everything appertaining thereto, stock in Union Bank and Co. – with this understanding that the property is chargeable and to be paid out of its product the debt due the Union Bank for stock loan, the sale of the stock will in my opinion – nearly pay it – This debt and any debt due for supplies for Plantation are the only debts I desire paid out of this bequest.
To Mrs. Emeline Thompson Mrs. Mary D. Benham and to Julia Thompson of the town of Alexa[ndria, Virginia] I bequeath one thousand dollars to be paid after my debts have all been paid.
To Mary E. Randolph [niece] I leave the precious charge of my two children Fanny [11] and Dora [9] to educate and rear with the affection that I know she will bestow on them. My exec’ts will and they are hereby authorized to make ample provisions for the support of these children and their education during their minority. When they arrive at marriageable state I desire the estate which they may possess may be secured to them by all the formalities which the laws of the state in which they may live will require.
I name W. M. Randolph [niece Mary’s husband] and W. L. Pitts [nephew] my executors to carry out the provision of this will.
The Meredith Plantation stands in my name, but one half of it after all the debts due on as well as private debts of Mrs. W. E Robert to be conveyed to her, she at same time conveying to me or my exec’ts for use of my estate certain (undivided half interest) in slaves, set forth in my books and any increase she and myself own all or a joint in lands on Bayou Jack, mostly in my name and abt 1000 acres in her name.
One half of the Parkham Plantation after debt due me and others against the Property is to be conveyed to Harvey Parkham as per my letter to that effect in hands of Jas. H. Parkham – I would suggest the sale of my half to Harvey Parkham on a term of years, he giving a mortgage on the whole property to secure the payments.
I desire the crops to be shipped to the merchants, if they wish it, who now do the business, until every dollar due them is paid and as long after as my Executors think advisable.
Given under my hand, written by myself. New Orleans May 24, 1851
W. M. Lambeth
Ne Varietur New Orleans April 8th 1853
J. N. Lea
Judge
[I do not know if W. M. Lambeth ever took his intended trip abroad, but he was dead less than two years later when he was about 53, as the proof of his Will shows below.]
Proof of Will
Filed 8 April 1853
Be it remember that on this eight day of April in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty three and the 77th of the Independence of the United States of America.
Upon the application of Wm M Randolph and pursuant to my decree bearing even date.
Before me J. N. Lea Judge of the Second District Court of New Orleans personally came and appeared M. M. P. W. Woodlief and John R. Elgee witnesses, who being duly sworn, were by me presented with a sealed packet sealed and closed with black sealing wax and bearing no superscription, which packet contained another closed with two wafers and bearing the following superscription “Important W. M. Lambeth, care Wright Williams & Co. New Orleans, did declare and say that the said superscription is in the proper handwriting of the late William M. Lambeth.
Thereupon the said sealed Packet being by me broken open were found to contain an instrument of writing, written on three sides of a sheet of letter paper beginning with the following words “The undersigned W. M. Lambeth and ending with the following words “given under my hand, written by myself New Orleans May 24th 1851. W. M. Lambeth, and purporting to be his oleographic last will and Testament, which being by me exhibited to the aforesaid witnesses, was by them recognized and declared to be entirely written dated and signed by the Testator the said W. M. Lambeth which they attest as having often seen him write and sign during his lifetime – and the said appearers did hereunto set their hands after due reading hereof on the day, month, and year first above written.
Signed J. R. Elgee
P. W. Woodlief
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 8th day of April 1853
(“Signed”) J. N. Lea
Judge
Thereupon I the said Judge do hereby declare the said oleographic last will and testament to be duly proved and after having read the said Will in a loud and distinct voice to the aforesaid witnesses, and in the presence of Messrs R de Armas and F. Augout all present in Court and after having signed the said Will Ne Varietur at the beginning and end of each page do now order the same to be deposited and recorded in the office of the Clerk of the Second District Court of New Orleans and that the Execution thereof take place according to law.
Done in the Second District Court of New Orleans the 8th day of April 1853
(“Signed”) (“Signed”)
F. Augout J N Lea
R. de Armas Judge
What follows is the death notice for William M. Lambeth:
“We notice, with deep regret, the death of an old [he was about 53 when he died] and valued citizen, William M. Lambeth, which event occurred on his plantation on Sunday last. Mr. Lambeth had been a prominent merchant in this city for more than twenty years, during which time he had, through many trials and mutations, maintained a high character for integrity and intelligence. At one time he was at the head of the largest commission house in this city, but reverses came, and, in common with all the other large mercantile establishments, his firm was for some time embarrassed, and compelled to suspend. But, unlike many others, he did not yield to the pressure of the times, but firmly maintained his integrity and credit; and, by long and persevering industry and devotion, succeeded in releasing his name form all the liabilities incurred in a most extensive and complicated business, and had the satisfaction of recovering sufficient of his fortune to secure him a handsome competency. The labor, anxiety and care attendant on the severe trials through which Mr. Lambeth passed, affected his health, and, for some years, he had been somewhat of an invalid. His death will send grief to may hearts, for he was an affectionate and kind relative and friend, liberal and devoted in all his attachments. He leaves several children, who are now in Virginia.”
The “severe trials” through which W. M. Lambeth passed included the deaths of his wife Georgianna Slacum Lambeth and infant son George in 1845 followed by the death of his only other son William Slacum Lambeth who was just five years old when he died in 1848. The 1850 U.S Census shows that his daughters Fanny (9, born in DC and attending school) and Dora (8, born in Louisiana and attending school) Lambeth were living in Alexandria, Virginia with three of the women, the girls’ apparent governesses, named in the will of W. M. Lambeth: Emeline Thompson (55, born in DC, real estate valued at $3,600), Mary L. Benham (52, born in DC, real estate valued at $3,100) and Julia Thompson (21, born in DC, real estate valued at $13,200). Upon his death in 1853 W. M. Lambeth’s daughters Fanny, 13, and Dora, 12, went to live with his niece Mary Pitts Randolph (daughter of Frances Bernard Lambeth Pitts and Thomas H. Pitts) in St. Charles, Missouri as he had instructed in his will. In the 1860 U.S. Census, one year before the U.S. Civil War broke out, Fanny Lambeth (20, born in Virginia) and Dora Lambeth (18, born in Louisiana) each were listed as having real estate valued at $100,000 and personal estate valued at $150,000. This was significant wealth. The real estate of their uncle with whom they lived, William Randolph, was valued that year at $30,000 and his personal estate was $25,000.
Regarding the sister of W. M. Lambeth (“Cousin Willie”):
Frances (“Fanny”) Bernard Lambeth had married Thomas H. Pitts on 4 February 1813 when Thomas was a month shy of 20 and Frances was about 15. Her mother Elizabeth Lambeth signed as guardian for her. Thomas had served as a sergeant in the 6th regiment of the Virginia Militia in the War of 1812. With a bit of conjecture and the help of the U.S Censuses from 1820 – 1880, the following can be presumed about W. M. Lambeth’s comments in his will regarding his generous bequeath to his sister “F. B. Pitts for reasons she will understand” and to her “five children whom I have mostly raised and educated and for whom I entertain the strongest affection”: by 1840 Frances Bernard Lambeth Pitts and Thomas H. Pitts were no longer living together. Thomas is found in Essex County, Virginia by himself in the 1840, 1850 and 1860 U.S. Censuses. There is more detail about this and strong evidence as to why Fanny left him outlined in section J. below.
By the 1840 U.S. Census Frances was living next to her oldest daughter Mary and Mary’s husband of two years William Randolph in Nelson, Kentucky. William Randolph’s obituary, transcribed below, states that he married “Miss Pitts, of Bardstown, Kentucky, the niece of Wm. M. Lambeth, at that time one of the prominent merchants of New Orleans.” So, it is apparent that sometime after 1830 and before 1838 Frances had moved with the children to Kentucky. In 1840 Frances would have been 42 and the U.S. census, which unfortunately only names the head of house and age ranges of other members of the household, shows she had four children living with her who were between 5 and 30. I believe these four were William – 21, George – 18, Isabell – 10, and Jane – 9.
In the 1850 U.S. Census Frances (52) and her two youngest daughters (Isabell- 20 and Jane -19) are in St Charles, Missouri living with Mary (34) and her husband W. M. Randolph (35) and their two children Mary (6) and William (2).
In the 1860 U.S. Census Frances (“Fanny B”, shown as 56 although she would have been 62, with the occupation of reading and serving) is living with her son George (38, a farmer) and his wife Molly (20), as well as with her youngest daughter Jane (Jany, who was listed as 20 although she would have been 29) who at this point was married to Ouachita Preston with three kids Fanny B (5), William R (2) and Lambeth (5 months) in Jackson, Texas. William (45) and Mary (40) Randolph were still in Cuivre, St. Charles, Missouri with their three children (Mary – 16, William -12, and Fanny -5), the two daughters of W. M. Lambeth (Fanny -20 and Dora -18), and William Randolph’s sister Nannie (23) and his father Beverley Randolph (67, who is mentioned in Grandma Kitty’s letter of 1848).
In the 1870 U.S. Census Fanny (74) is living in Orange, Florida with Walter Pitts (45 and unmarried), and near the following family members: her youngest daughter Jane (“Jennie”, listed as 35 but really she was 38) and her husband Ouachita Preston (36) and their three youngest Fannie (14), Lambeth (10), and Howard (4); her grandson William Randolph (22); her grandson-in-law William Harney (38) and her one-year-old great grandson William Harney (her granddaughter Mary having died earlier that year). As stated in D. above, I strongly believe that the Walter S Pitts who Fanny was living with in 1870 was Fanny’s nephew (and my granduncle), the son of her husband’s brother George R Pitts (my second great grandfather) who had lived near her when he was growing up in St. Charles, Missouri. See the family tree below for clarity on these relationships.
From the New Orleans newspaper obituary for William Mayer Randolph in 1876 (eleven years after the Civil War and the year my grandfather Lambeth Shelton Allen was born):
“Tribute to the Great Patriot and Lawyer.”
“Yesterday, at the Odd Fellow’s Hall, a very large and select audience gathered to attend the meeting of the members of the New Orleans bar, to pay a proper tribute to the memory of the distinguished jurist and statesman, Wm. M. Randolph, whose death we recently announced … The older members of the bar, talking of times gone by, relate that then he was as impetuous as Putnam; sudden and quick in quarrel as Hotspur, though always knightly in his courteous bearing. Feats of his personal strength and activity, and miracles of his nerve and daring, in maintaining his position when he considered himself wronged, still enrich their reminiscences of thirty years ago … Born in Cumberland county, Virginia, the boyhood of our Randolph was passed with the ordinary incidents of farm life and country school. At the age of seventeen he went to the Military Academy at West Point, where the climate proving too severe he remained but one session.
Among his classmates was Jubal A. Early, since distinguished as a lieutenant general in the Confederate army. Returning to Virginia at the age of eighteen, young Randolph began the study of law with his uncle Judge W. Randolph. As soon as he had finished his studies, with the enterprise of his race, he removed to Tallahassee, Florida and began the practice of law. Here he remained for several years. During that time he took an active part in the political contests of Florida. It was there he was married to Miss Mary Pitts, of Bardstown, Kentucky, the niece of Wm. M. Lambeth, at that time one of the most prominent merchants of New Orleans. Probably influenced by the new relations he and assumed, he came to this city in 1841. In 1852 we find him reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, a position he continued to fill for four years.
In 1856 Mr. Randolph retired from the practice of this profession, with an independence secured by his own efforts, and betook himself to the occupation of a farmer in the State of Missouri. His fortune having been destroyed by the war, he returned to this city in 1863, and resumed his place among us.”
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