Valentine FLEGLE d/ 1801 in Frederick (now Carroll) County
leaving 8 children,
- Charles FLEGLE
- Valentine FLEGLE Jr.
- Jacob FLEGLE
- John FLEGLE
- Anna w/o Daniel ZACHARIAS
- Catharine w/o John COVER
- Polly w/o David STONER
- Mary w/o Jacob DAGEY
Land - "Brown's Plague", "Spring Garden", "Resurvey on Molly's
Industry", 149 3/4 acres, purchased 17 Nov 1773. Land was said
to be near Krider's Church. The four brothers claimed the land
had been divided off, for each to have a section upon their
father's death. The three elder brothers had in fact lived on
the land with Valentine Jr. and Charles having built log cabins
on it. After Valentine Jr. asked to have the land deeded to him
and Valentine Sr. refused, Jr. then moved to Reisterstown, outside
of Baltimore, taking his cabin apart and rebuilding it there. All
three of the brothers later moved off the land; but Jacob returned
and moved into the house that Charles had built about a year before
his mother died; he remained there until the summer of 1798 when
Valentine, by jury, had Jacob evicted from the land. (Act of 1793,
Chapter 43 - Dispossession of Tenant at Will).
Valentine's wife died about 1797 and he, being alone and helpless
(needing two canes to walk at times), hired a housekeeper. The
siblings being concerned over losing their inheritance, beat the
housekeeper and drove her off. However, Valentine was able to
convince her to return and then asked her to marry him; this
happened about 18 months after the death of his first wife. The
young woman he married, Mary FLYDON, was only about 20 yrs old,
although he was in his 70's. (Mary FLYDON had been poor and had
been bound out as a servent to a Mr SWISHER.)
This complaint had been filed as early as 25 Jul 1799 when
Valentine Sr. gave testimony. Valentine sold part of the land
to Henry BROWN in 1800, about a year after Valentine's second
marriage. The proceedings continued even after his death until 1810.
Depositions were taken at the tavern of Peter SHOEMAKER on 18 Nov
1805. Those who gave testimony were: John WAMPLER (age 32 then);
John BENDER (age 50 then); John SLIFE (age 49 then); Dewalt YOUNG
(age 48 then); Daniel ZACHARIAS (age 28 then, a grandson).
Court was adjourned til the 29th of November at Taneytown in the
house of Eli BENTLEY where John BENDER testified - about 24 years
ago, Valentine, the father, had divided all his land into four
parts for his four sons and set stones at the corners and had
entered into a written agreement with them; and in return, they
would maintain him in a separate house. He left this agreement
in the house of Henry MYERS for safe keeping. At some point,
Valentine went to Henry MYERS (only English clerk in the area
and Chief of Writings for the neighborhood) under the pretense
of wanting to hear it read; but snatched it and destroyed it.
Unfortunately, the said Henry MYERS has moved on to an unknown
location. Testimony revealed both, son John and son-in-law Daniel
ZACHARIAS, had offered to have Valentine live with them. Valentine,
however, felt his sons had treated him badly and didn't want to
live with any of them. He wanted to disinherit them and had offered
to sell his land to son-in-law Daniel ZACHARIAS.
Court adjourned and again met in Jan 1806, back at Peter SHOEMAKER's
Tavern. Depositions were heard from: John MARKER (age 50 then);
William DURBIN Jr. (age 32 then); John MITTIN (age 63 then);
George BROWN Sr. (age 74 then); Daniel KLINE (age 65 then);
Henry BROWN Jr. (age 35 then); Henry STEVENSON (age 66 then);
John DIFFEBAUGH (age 39 then); John WARNER (age 67 then); William
DURBIN; Merryman STEVENSON (age 37 then - had a tavern about a mile
from Valentine's house). Testimony states Valentine's daughter,
Catherine, and her girls had beaten Mary FLYDON and tried to run
her off, in fear she would marry Valentine Sr. and take everything.
Valentine was angered by this and, out of spite, went to have a
will made in order to dissolve the agreement with his sons. He
had decided to give his new wife everything and his children nothing.
The court ruled to go by the wishes of the will and all property was
given to his second wife, the now Mrs. Lawrence BURKHART (marriage
license has BANKART). Final decree was issued 31 Mar 1810.
(Application for the marriage license to Burkhart was made on the
same day she filed Valentine's will.)
website by Dorinda Davis Shepley