William James Trippe (b. 1812 - d. 1891)
MSA SC 5496-38740
Property Owner, Talbot County, Maryland
Biography:
William James Trippe was the eldest surviving son of Richard Trippe. The family lived on a plantation and farm abutting a creek sharing its name in Bailey's Neck, southwest of Easton in Talbot County, Maryland. The Trippes were a slaveholding family but Trippe himself apparently did not own slaves until legal and familial circumstances compelled him.
In 1840, Trippe's father Richard owned at least four slaves.1 Richard's 1846 will named Trippe the executor of his estate and bequeathed to him the farm and plantation, the adjacent lot of wood land, his threshing machine, wheat fan, corn sheller, work horses, and all other household equipment and furniture.2 The will bequeathed at least fourteen specific slaves to his children Sarah Elizabeth, Mary Harriett, and his grandson, also named Richard, who was the child of his late son Edward and his widow Charlotte. These persons, and his other son Nicholas Hammond, were also entitled to an unspecified number of unnamed slaves distributed from his estate.3
The deceased Richard named Trippe the trustee of the slaves bequeathed to young Richard and Nicholas. As the trustee, Trippe was tasked to "hire out, collection and pay over" the proceeds to his nephew Richard and his brother Nicholas.4 Young Richard's trust was to expire when he reached his majority at twenty-one years old. Despite Nicholas' age of thirty-one, the same as his sister Mary, no mechanism was created to dissolve his trust.
In 1850, immediately following Richard's death, the thirty-eight year old Trippe's estate was valued at $24,000.5 Living with him were his elder sister Sarah Elizabeth, his younger sister Mary Harriett, and an eleven year old relation named Edward. Also living with him were two free mulattoes identified as Peter Mayler and Tayler Oldridge.6 Perhaps because his father's estate was not yet distributed, Trippe is listed as the owner of 25 slaves between the ages of two and sixty-five in the 1850 slave schedules.7 In 1852 slave assessment Trippe was only listed as the trustee of Richard's eight slaves valued at $2,550 and Nicholas' three valued at $700.8
Following
the will's directives to divide the estate, Trippe was indebted to his
brother Joseph of Newark, New Jersey and his sister Mary for $2,586.71.
He used the household furnishings and farm equipment to "better secure"
that payment rather than actually selling the recently bequeathed
property.9 The will demanded that $700 be deducted from
Joseph's share and Sarah Elizabeth was excluded from disbursements
because she received "Advancements" and was already well provided
for.10 That would mean the likely value of unspecified
property distributed to Robert Henry, Nicholas Hammond, Mary Harriett,
and young Richard was $1,468.34 apiece. Together with Joseph's likely
distribution of $1,118.34 it would mean the elder Richard's estate, not
accounting for land, items, or slaves specifically described in the
will, amounted to $6,991.78.
In 1857 Trippe initiated
the process that personally made him a slave owner. Over the course of the trust, Nicholas borrowed
$1,876.32 from Trippe but desired to
leave the state. Nicholas could not repay Trippe without selling his
slaves Isaac, Samuel, and Rachel. Believing that their father desired
the slaves to "so remain in the family," Trippe needed to
simultaneously purchase the slaves himself and collect the debt from
Nicholas' trust.11 He petitioned Judge R. B. Carmichael of the Talbot County Circuit Court to designate a new trustee to oversee these exchanges with
the understanding that the trustee and the court would return the
trusteeship afterwards.
The court-appointed trustee, Isaac C.W.
Powell, sold the forty-one year old Isaac for $1,300, twenty-one year
old and rheumatic Samuel for $800, fourteen year old Rachel for $776.32 to
Trippe, and repaid Trippe the $1,876.32 worth of loans.12 The
unusual sum paid for Rachel resulted in a net payment of $1,000 by
Trippe to
Nicholas, an overpayment considering their collective $700 value in the
1852 assessment. During Powell's brief tenure as trustee, Nicholas
was tried for the attempted murder of Orson Gore, an elderly neighbor
with whom he resided for a time.13 A jury "acquitted [him] of the assault with intent to murder...but convicted him of an assault and battery upon him."14
Although Gore was compensated and the court fees were paid, Nicholas'
counsel, his neighbor Samuel Hambleton, was not. In 1861
Hambleton petitioned the court for his fees plus interest,
representing a deduction of $88.09 from Nicholas' trust.15 With the consent of Powell, Trippe petitioned the court to resume trusteeship on June 11, 1860.16
In
1860 Trippe's sister Sarah, his nephew Richard, and a black servant
named Carmelia Bailey along with her two young children lived with him
and his wife Elizabeth (nee Purnell).17 Trippe's real
estate was estimated to be worth $28,000 while his personal property were valued at $8,000.18
That same year Trippe owned four slaves including three matching the
descriptions of Nicholas' former slaves Isaac, Samuel, and Rachel.19
Although
Rachel was a fugitive from the state by 1860, it seems Trippe did not
publish any advertisements seeking her return. In December of 1860,
Samuel Hambleton assumed trusteeship of Trippe's estate when he became
insolvent.20
Trippe's trusteeship for
his nephew's slaves dissolved on Richard's twenty-first birthday,
August 15, 1865.21 Slavery was abolished in Maryland that November 1st, 1864.
Trippe departed Maryland with his wife to Jersey City, New Jersey where he worked as a druggist.22 By 1880, Trippe developed heart disease.23 Trippe and Elizabeth had no children and he bequeathed all of their possessions to her upon his death.24 Trippe died on May 11, 1891 and is buried in Talbot County.25
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