Day 9. Aftermath & a trip to Kew
Theodore returned to America. He had not achieved much - except that Henry now knew that he would have to satisfy the wishes of his aunts and other legatees of Elizabeth’s will. His wife had been anxious for his safety.
She could not get the memory of the family tragedy out of her mind. She remembered the joy of her troubled sister, Margaret Christian Gall, at departing what she had described as the stifling atmosphere of the Barrell household.Theodore had been responsible for handling her financial affairs. Her mother had left her a house in Fontabelle on the outskirts of Bridgetown and some slaves to provide her with an income. He or her sister had persuaded her to go to America with them but it had not been a successful move. In making a financial settlement of her money in January 1816 he had told her that if she wanted to remain with them she would need to cease “to indulge herself in inequalities of temper, that will eventually disgust the whole community against her and she could not expect much cordiality from the family; but if she will repress that turbulence which so often manifests itself, even on occasions the most trivial, and adopts the manners of the very amiable females of the neighbourhood she shall have the utmost countenance and support of friends whose only wish is for her happiness. No one will ever be beloved who exacts or expects universal homage; great exertions must be used and much sacrifice of self to recover the esteem of society.”
I expect that Margaret had adopted the manners of the Dutch in Demerara, with “a desire for a constant round of gaity and a constant round of company” as Theodore put it. The simple manner of living, which the Barrell household had adopted, clearly didn’t suit her and in June 1824 she embarked with her brother-in-law Park Benjamin and nephew William Christopher Benjamin on a voyage to the West Indies; a voyage which none of them survived.
In the absence of her husband she kept her mind busy by making plans for her daughter’s wedding in the Episcopal church and for the wedding party to take a trip to New York city with the bride and groom.
* * * * *
Theodore was not prepared to leave things stand. His worst fears about his wife’s nephew had proven well founded. As soon as he learnt that Henry had put in a claim in for slave compensation he put in a counterclaim on behalf of his wife and sister-in-law.
I had some more research to do amongst the dusty files and ledgers of the Slave Compensation Commission. There were papers about the counterclaim. I ordered them as soon as I arrived at the National Archive’s building in Kew and then sat in the restaurant to give them time to deliver them to the locker in the Reading Room. I was excited with the anticipation of finding some inflamatory remarks by Barrell into why Henry’s claim should not be agreed. Thirty minutes later I was opening an old ledger. I knew which page to look at. I read the details of Henry’s application on behalf of the estate of Elizabeth Gall. He appeared to have taken the warning from Theodore to heart- all seemed above board. But where was Theodore’s counterclaim. Then I saw a note in the margin in pencil “Counter claim page 197. I went to the back of the volume and carefully turned back the yellowing pages to page 197. “Counterclaim by Liza Barrell and Mary Judith Lanman, formerly Mrs Barrell. Withdrawn.” So that was it? I had travelled two hundred miles for that? There was nothing more to be found. Nothing in the land deeds in Barbados. No further mention of the outcome of the family dispute in the Barrell papers. Nothing. The trail had gone cold.
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