Amanuensis Monday~Estate of Dempsey Rivers

Amanuensis Monday is a genealogy blogging theme. It was started by John Newmark who writes the TransylvanianDutch blog.

His definition of Amanuensis is:
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Today’s subject is the Estate of Dempsey Rivers.
Dempsey Rivers
Estate Folder #11
URL: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-19383-21372-31?cc=1911928

Dempsey Rivers, son of  William Rivers and Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Rivers Rivers, was born about 1830. This is based on his reported age of 20 and 30 years of age in the 1850-1860 Chesterfield County, SC census. 

Dempsey was twice married; first to Eliza Ann Dozier, about 1854. Eliza Ann was the daughter of James Dozier and his wife Britten LNU. Eliza Ann, age 20, died on 11 Dec 1856; a year earlier she had given birth to a daughter Georgia A. Rivers. 

Dempsey next married Sarah Ann Massey, age 14, about 1858. Sarah Ann was the daughter of  William Lawrence and Hulda Meadows Massey. 

1860 Chesterfield Co., SC Census

Dempsey and Sarah Ann has two children before the start of the Civil War. Their first born, John William Thomas ‘Catfish’ Rivers was born 19 November 1859. Their next child, a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Rivers was born 4 September 1861.  

It’s likely that Sarah Elizabeth never saw her dad and if she did she would not have remembered him.

Dempsey enlisted into the Southern Army on 13 April 1861, he was admitted to hospital with chronic dysentery, 29 October 1861. Transferred to Union Hills, on 1 November 1861.

Dempsey Rivers died from typhoid fever on 13 November 1861. His death is documented in the South Carolina “Roll of The Dead” and in “Broken Fortunes”, a book by Randolph W. Kirkland, Jr..

After Dempsey’ death, his widow, Sarah Ann Massey Rivers married Leander Sweatt between 1861 and 1867.  To this union was born two sons, Henry and William Sweatt. 

[#114] Davis, Thomas P. Adm. & wife vs. Stephen Jackson & others - Bill for marshaling assets, injunction & c 1867
William L. Massey died intestate in May 1862, leaving his widow, Hulda Massey and his children: Nancy intermarried with Thomas P. Davis; Allston H. Massey; Mary Ann intermarried with Phillip Rivers; Lydia intermarried with William J. Rivers; Ellen, widow [William] Isaac Hurst died after the death of Wm. L. Massey; Pleasant W. Massey; Sarah, widow of Demsy Rivers, died prior to death of Wm. L. Massey and has since remarried to Leander Sweatt; Rosa intermarried with Thomas F. Davis; Rueben Massey; Hulda (Jr) intermarried with Hugh M. Massey; and James Massey, the last three infants under the age of 21.

William L. Massey, father of Sarah Ann Massey Rivers, was granted Letters of Administration on the Dempsey Rivers estate.  

William L. Massey died in May 1862. Thomas P. Davis, made suit to be granted Letters of Administration of the estate. He was named administrator de bonis non¹ of the estate of Dempsey Rivers on 10 August 1866

Dempsey’ estate was finally settled in December 1880 (see Image 161).  Dempsey lived a very short life. He was twice married, father 3 children; two daughters and a son and went off to war to protect his family. A true patriot.
















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[1] De bonis non administratis, Latin for "of goods not administered," is a legal term for assets remaining in an estate after the death or removal of the estate administrator. The second administrator is called the administrator de bonis non and distributes the remaining assets. In the Uniform Probate Code, these titles have been replaced by successor personal representative.

ENDNOTES for REFERENCE
1. 1850 U. S. Census, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Chesterfield District, South Carolina, Page 179B, Line 16, family 1242, dwelling 1242, Household of William Rivers; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2010); citing National Archives Microfilm M432 Roll 851.
2. 1860 U. S. Census, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Chesterfield, South Carolina, Page: 115 (stamped); Line 27, Dwelling 299, Family 299, Household of Duncan RIVERS; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 31 July 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm M653_1217.
3. Randolph W. Kirkland Jr., Broken Fortunes: South Carolina Soldiers, Sailors and Citizens Who Died in the Service of Their Country and State in the War for Southern Independence, 1861-1865 (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina, 1997), page 298.
4. Ancestry, "Civil War Service Records" database, Military Service Records (http://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 31 July 2013), entry for Dempsey RIVERS, Private; Co. B, 8th Infantry, South Carolina Volunteers; Confederate.
5. James C. Pigg, Cheraw/Chesterfield District Wills, 1750-1865: Abstracts from the Court of Common Pleas 1823-1869 (Tega Cay, South Carolina: Self-published, 1995), page 133.
6. "South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964," Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ : viewed 3 August 2011), images, "Dempsey RIVERS, Probate Folder #11," Images 159-172.
7. 1850 U. S. Census, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Page: 175B; Line 11, Dwelling 1182, Family 1182, Household of John HUNTLY; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 14 February 2015); citing National Archives Microfilm M432 Roll 851.
8. Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database and digital images, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 5 June 2012); Memorial page for Eliza A. Rivers; (8 April 1836–11 December 1856); Find a Grave memorial # 40202633, Citing Kite Cemetery; Chesterfield, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, USA.
9. 1860 U. S. Census, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Population Schedule, Chesterfield, South Carolina, Page: 115 (stamped); Line 27, Dwelling 299, Family 299, Household of Duncan RIVERS.
10. 1870 U. S. Census, Court House, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Court House, Chesterfield, South Carolina, Page 30/302B(stamped); Line 5, Dwelling 294, Family 294, Household of S. SWEET; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 31 July 2013); citing National Archive Microfilm M593, Roll 1491.
11. Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Estate Folder #535, Sarah [Massey Rivers] Sweat; SC Archives & History, Columbia, South Carolina.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-19388-13447-13?cc=1911928