Day 2. A death and an inheritance
DAY 2 - A death and an inheritance
1800 - Theodore Barrell had been swept off his feet by the enchanting sister of Dr Henry Beckles Gall at his apothecary in Georgetown, Demerara. He had consulted his friend for a remedy for his toothache and left besotted by Elizabeth’s charms. And so it was that they started the new century as husband and wife. Theodore might be variously described as a merchant, lawyer or a bit of a chancer. They had a precarious start to their lives as their fortunes were tossed about by the uncertainties of the continuing war with the new American state and the shadow cast by Napoleon. After returning to England and starting to raise a family they had finally settled in a small Sandemanian community in Connecticut. The Sandemanians followed a strict primitive Christian set of beliefs, washing each others feet and having a communal supper on Sundays. The sect believed that the accumulation of wealth was unscriptual and improper. This belief was about to be tested.
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CONNECTICUT 1830
Elizabeth Beckles Barrell had received a letter from Barbados. This could only mean one thing - another death in the family. The news from Barbados was never joyous. Indeed, nothing much in Norwich was joyous either - apart from the joy her children brought her. She waited for Theodore to return home and gave the letter to him to open. She was not prepared for his outburst.
“The devious little scorpions. May they rot in hell!”
Liza drew the youngest of her children to hide in the folds of her apron. They had never heard a single word spoken in anger in their homestead and they began to cry, as did Liza. Theodore stormed out tossing the paper on the floor. Liza had known his fiery temper when they were young and facing one arduous challenge after another. But he had mellowed after they had found the true Sandemanian faith.
She was more concerned about how she would be able to face the members of the community than finding out what was in the letter. How could she explain to them his fiery outburst? Surely they would think that she had done him some terrible wrong. She hardly dared to pick up the letter to read it for herself.
“My Dearest Aunt Liza,
I am so sorry to relate the passing of your dearest aunt Elizabeth peacefully in her home. We laid her to rest in the family tomb in St.John’s and many people came to pay their respects. Several months have passed since that sad day whilst my brother and I have been trying to settle her estate. You may recall that her cousin James Cook looked after her legal affairs after Uncle Theodore could no longer do so. Alas he predeceased her and it has taken this much time for William and I to be appointed her Executors. William continues to manage Galls Retreat but despairs that it can be sold in its present dilapidated state. It barely makes enough profit to pay his wages. I will write to you again should we be able to make any progress.”
Liza knew how her great aunt had looked after the two brothers when their father had died at sea in 1819, before either had achieved manhood. Had she not apprenticed William to become a plantation manager for her and encouraged young Henry Beckles to learn the management of plantation accounts? Her neighbours, the wealthy Lascelles, had appointed managers and attorneys to complete detailed plantation journals and ledgers for their business interests. In this modern world records needed to be kept regularly and in accordance with a consistent system. The Lascelles considered experienced accountants as key personnel and their salaries reflected this status. How could her husband think so badly of this industrious pair? They would surely be grateful to the start in life given by their great aunt and be assiduous in defending the Gall interests in Barbados.
She knew in her heart that her brother, Dr Gall, had been a good man. Had he not worked tirelessly for his family? Creating a merchant’s business from nothing in the former Dutch colony of Demerara. He was self-taught as a doctor and apothecary. He had taken her into his home in Demerara to keep his young wife company and provided a small dowry for her marriage. His namesake son, Henry Beckles Gall would surely follow in his father’s footsteps?
* * * * *
Theodore had calmed down. Outwardly at least. He had been penning several letters to the little scorpions and had wasted several valuable sheets of paper until he was able to write a more measured letter. It was designed to unnerve his wife’s nephew against pursuing any nefarious activity. Henry needed to know that his aunt expected him to carry out the tasks of the Executor of Elizabeth Gall’s will properly and that he should send a copy of the will to Connecticut forthwith.
Theodore knew that Elizabeth Gall had intended to strike Dr Gall out of her will after he had disputed the ownership of the slave John, one of her overseers. The details of the will were unknown to him; she had written the will in 1816 when Barbados had been ravaged by the slave insurrection and then Yellow fever. Bridgetown had been rocked by an earthquake. Many Barbadians had feared that the white population faced the vengeance of the Lord. At the time Theodore had considered the Barbadians deserved little sympathy.
Liza heard his words with foreboding. “I shall have to make haste and head for Barbados before the hurricane season if I am going to secure any of Aunt Elizabeth’s estate.” Liza knew the perils of the sea. She had sailed many times in her life and had never enjoyed the experience. Her brother in law, Park Benjamin an American sea captain had enjoyed telling the family about the perils of the sea and his escapades evading the British navy and privateers. He had perished on a voyage to Demerara along with his eldest son and Liza’s younger sister in 1824. And before that in 1819, her brother Dr Gall had died on his way to England. She had waited in vain for three months for news of his safe arrival. On 11th June 1819, Lloyds List in London recorded that the schooner Sir Thomas Hardy was wrecked at Cape Nigro on the coast of Nova Scotia about 20th March “Only on man saved”. It had not been her brother.
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