Court Case Involving Ephraim Frady and Others

Transcribed by Larry Rhodes

Notes and Sources are contained in end notes. To read them as you proceed, click on note numbers within the text.

Here is an image of the clerk's entry in the records of the Superior Court of Buncombe County, North Carolina followed by the transcription. Note 1

Book 22 p 380 State of N. Carolina} Buncombe County}	Know all men by these presents that I Ephraim Frady do give unto Willson Frady of the same State and county all
my growing crop of corn and oats potatoes three head of horses one wagon two cows and calves and all the stock of hogs that belongs to the said Ephraim Frady, and all the household and kitchen furniture for the said Willson Frady to have to secure him in staying a Judgement of Seventy four dollars & fifty cents against Ephraim Frady as principal and Littleton Potillo security in favor of Alexander Henry Guardian of the heirs of Ephraim Frady decd for the said Willson Frady to hold as his own property until the said Ephraim Frady satisfies the above named Judgement for the above mentioned amount of seventy four dollars and fifty cents In testimony I have hereunto set my hand and seal the 20th of June 1842 Attest    J Merrell
A H Johnston	Ephraim his X mark Frady {Seal}
State of N. Carolina} Buncombe County}	County Court July Term 1842 The written Mortgage deed was duly proven in open court by
the oath of J. Merrell a subscribing witness thereto recorded and ordered to be registered

Registered Aug.18th 1842

N. Harrison Clk

Ephraim Frady, born in 1785 in Culpepper County, Virginia and died before 1860 in Buncombe County, North Carolina, was my Great-great-great-grandfather. Willson Frady was one of Ephraim's sons and brother to my Great-great-grandfather John Frady. It is not unheard of for someone to protect assets in this manner until a particular debt is paid or worked off. Who is Ephraim Frady deceased? It was my conjecture that he may have been another son of the Ephraim Frady who was the subject of this action until I encountered a record in the Inventories Book of the Buncombe County Court, April Term 1847, which identified Alexander Henry as Guardian to the heirs of Ephraim Henry, deceased!Note 2 It is now my theory that Clerk Nathaniel Harrison made an error with his 1842 entry; and that he wrote Frady instead of Henry. But, what if the error was made in the later inventory entry? While browsing Henderson County Register of Deeds records, I found entries for Ephraim Henry prior to 1842.Note 3 Given that Ephraim Frady owed the debt to the Henry estate, then the document makes more sense. We will probably never know details of the debt.

Additional research is always in order. We can only keep our eyes open.

1. Transcribed from a photocopy provided by Louise Frady Hodge, Midlothian, Virginia.
2. Buncombe County, North Carolina Superior Court Records, Inventories Book 1-2; Salt Lake City, Utah: Family History Library, US/CAN Film 412,821.
3. Henderson County, North Carolina Register of Deeds, Land Entry Records (2 unlabeled volumes) 1839 - 1885; Salt Lake City, Utah: Family History Library, US/CAN Film 1,758,932