Betty in Forma Pauperis

"There lived....a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights and thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and of civilization."     
---------Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

In 1835 Hanover County, Virginia, a woman simply named Betty filed suit in forma pauperis to fight for her and her children's liberties.  In a world where Betty had no rights under the bondage of slavery, the court abstract for Betty's suit presented a woman's fight to keep her family together.  What initially drew my eye to this suit was that somehow my Thurman family was involved Betty's battle.  I feared digging further into the suit and learning something about my Thurman that I really didn't want to know.  And yet, I couldn't get Betty and her brave heart out of my mind.  I had to know Betty's story and the fate of her children.

According to the official court record, Betty was the property of William Gooch, a white, land owning male who lived in Hanover County, Virginia.  Betty's claim described her relationship with Gooch as something more than "master and slave".  She stated that Gooch was the father of her children and that he had provided them all with liberties.  Indeed, the below 1830 Hanover County census (taken five years before Betty filed suit) provides some insight to Betty's claim.  Gooch was between the ages of 60 and 70 and was the only white person living in his household.  He didn't have a white wife or any white children living with him.  On the slave schedule, there were nine slaves living in his household.  The female slave, age 36 to 55, was most likely Betty.  The slaves of the household included two young males under the age of 24 and six females under the age of 24.  A complete household of 10 people.  If slavery had not been a factor in recording this census, Gooch's entry would have appeared as if he had a wife with a house full of children.
1830 William Gooch household white entry

1830 William Gooch household slave entries

In the spring of 1831, the year after the above census, Gooch wanted to ensure the continued liberties of his "slaves" after his death.  According to Betty, Gooch decided to create a will which would leave his entire estate to Betty, her children, and the other unnamed slaves in the suit.  Being an illiterate man, Gooch turned to his friend, William C. Smith, for advice on how to legally accomplish his desires.  However,  Betty claimed that instead of helping Gooch, Smith tricked him.  The result being that in April 1831, Gooch signed a deed which gave Smith possession of Gooch's entire property, real and personal, upon his death.  The deed had been prepared by Charles Smith, father of William C. Smith.  After the deed was struck, Smith apparently informed others in the rural community near Cold Harbor that he was to inherit Gooch's estate - not Gooch's slaves.  Word of the betrayal must have gotten back to Gooch, as the court record shows that Gooch had subsequent wording added to the deed.  The document which contained the additional wording is lost to time, but the suit summary quoted Gooch's addendum with his wishes as, "I, William Gooch, being willing that William Smith should hold all my people and plantation, according to my will, which is recorded in Hanover office; but if he should attempt to hire out, sell, or convey, any of my negroes, or sell my land that I have for my said negroes, I wish it to be taken from him, and put in the hands of Jesse Barker immediately, that it never was my intention for any of my negroes to be sold or hired."  Gooch's desire was for his "people" to live on his 160 acres located near Kidd's Mill and to support themselves by their own efforts in working the land.  Below is a snippet of the 1814 Hanover County Virginia tax list stating that Gooch's 160 acres were near Kidd's Mill and adjacent to William Peace's land (Elder Swamp area).



During the spring of 1832, William Gooch died.  The legal machinations began three years later when Betty filed suit claiming that Smith had attempted to both sell and hire out Gooch's "people".  Two years later in March 1837, Littleberry Thurman of Cumberland County, Kentucky and his siblings also brought suit against William C. Smith as William Gooch's legal heirs and next of kin.  Their deceased mother had been Lucy (Gooch) Thurman married to Nathan Thurman .  I had known her first name was Lucy - now I knew her family surname.  Like Betty, the Thurmans claimed that the deed had been fraudulently prepared and misrepresented Gooch's desires.  As next of kin, they claimed that they should inherit William Gooch's estate.

Many depositions of Hanover County citizens were taken during the course of the suits including those of George Turner, Wat H. Tyler, Kelly Tucker, Charles Barker, Foster Higgins, W. E. Tyler, Jesse Barker, and Nathaniel White.  The defense argued that under the bondage of slavery, Betty and the other slaves had no "liberties" to claim.  This didn't detour Betty as she kept fighting until the court, in 1852, made a decree emancipating Betty and the other plaintiffs.  The June 1852 decision also included the plaintiffs' descendants born since the suit was filed.  Imagine the joy and celebration that must have occurred among Betty and her family at this time.

But of course, the 1852 decision was appealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia by Smith.  Two years later, the emancipation decision was reversed on the basis that the 1831 deed was a good conveyance "investing the grantee, William C. Smith, with a full and absolute title in and to the land, slaves and other property in said deed mentioned."

In the end, Betty and her children were denied the liberties that they had enjoyed with William Gooch.  Was all of Betty's courage to fight for those liberties futile?  This was the question I wanted answered.  Certainly, Betty and her children did not obtain the liberties they had fought so long and hard for.  But they did leave evidence that they had lived, loved, and fought for the lives they dreamed of living.  Their lives weren't erased from time by the institution of slavery, as if they had never existed.  Through the court records, quite a lot can be gleaned about Betty and her children.  In fact, in the Hanover County Virginia Common Law Order Books, two of Betty's children's names were given, Lucy and Eliza. 


Did Betty and her children enjoy the liberties that William Gooch had desired for them?  Find out here.  

copyright©2018 Deborah Thurman Parks

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