In a previous note, the complaint of David Robinson was given. One of the strange things about it was that David did not seem to remember the day, month, or even the year of his father's death. As the eldest of five children, he surely had some remembrance of the event. Perhaps the omission came about because David told his story to his lawyer (Ellzey) who wrote it up, but found that David had omitted to tell him these details. We would love to know this as it would help tremendously in fixing the time when Catherine married John Rector.
Apparently, David and his lawyer were not very active in pursuing the case which was filed in 1774. But the bigger problem may have been that Catherine Rector and Henry Rector did not respond to the calls of the court to appear. Some twelve years after the case was filed, it is recorded that the Sheriff was instructed to bring Catherine Rector and Henry Rector, Junior, into court on the 27th of May 1786.
There is filed the answer of Catherine Rector to the complaint of David Robinson. This too, besides David's complaint, is obviously weak on the dates. She appears to say that William Robinson died on the 15th day of April, in the year 1723. However, the three items specifying when he died were left blank in the original statement. The answer was signed Catharine Rector and this was written in the same hand as the body of the note. At another time, someone else wrote in " 15th, April, and 1723 ". The year seems to be totally impossible because Catharine herself says that she was not a widow very long. John Rector was not even married in 1723 . Also, in the supposed answer of Catherine, the given name of her father was left blank, and later was filled in by someone else. So, what appears to be her answer was written by someone else, who did not have access to the facts. This reply was made in 1787 when she might have been well into her eighties and perhaps her memory was not the best.
The gist of her reply was that William Robinson left no estate that was worth mentioning. The only thing that emerges clearly from the complaint, and her answer, is that her maiden name was Taylor, that she was married to William Robinson, by whom she had five children, that William Robinson died, and that she married John Rector very soon thereafter. But we are confused by the statements, which seem to be erroneous, as to when these things occurred.
David Robinson apparently replied to the statement, and he refers, in doing so, to the answer of Henry Rector. It may be that what was purporting to be the answer of Catherine Rector was really the answer of Henry Rector. The problem with this is that Henry is said to have died in 1781. In short, there are problems with the dates, but the outline of the story is clear.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.