An Analysis of the Deeds
Relating to the Culpepper Tract on
Fishing Creek in Edgecombe County, NC
By Lew Griffin
11 Apr 2001
One could have hoped that the deeds for Joseph and Benjamin
Culpepper’s land on
Fishing Creek would have shed some light on the identities of the
various Benjamin Culpeppers in early Edgecombe.
However, the 1741
deed is a disappointment, as it does not adequately or correctly
describe the land involved. One
cannot tell from the deed whether this is a sale of the east or the west
half of the property. While
at first glance this might seem to make little difference, in reality it
makes a great deal of difference.
Interpretation 1: Joseph sells West half and keeps East half
For instance, suppose that in the 1741
deed, Joseph is selling the WEST half of his property to his brother
Benjamin. He retains the
EAST half for himself. Both
brothers die, and their eldest sons, both named Benjamin, inherit the
respective properties by right of primogeniture.
Then, in the 1752, a second exchange of land takes place, this time
between the two first cousins. This
deed is unambiguously the WEST half of the property.
In this deed, Benjamin, Jr. sells to his first cousin, Benjamin,
Sr. “Ferryman” the west half of the original property.
In this interpretation, who was the grantor of the west half?
It could only have been Benjamin, son of Benjamin.
So he was the son of Benjamin, and Ben “Ferryman” was the son
of Joseph. He was selling
back to Joseph’s son Ben, the same west half of the land Joseph had
sold to his father some 11 years previous.
Interpretation 2: Joseph sells East half and keeps West half
But what if the ambiguous 1741
deed was actually a sale of the EAST half of the property?
Suppose Joseph retained the WEST half for himself.
Again, both brothers die, and their eldest sons, both named
Benjamin, inherit the respective properties by right of primogeniture.
Then, in the 1752
deed, a second exchange of land takes place, this time between the
two first cousins. This is
deed is unambiguously the WEST half of the property.
In this deed, Benjamin, Jr. sells to his first cousin, Benjamin,
Sr. “Ferryman” the west half of the original property.
In this interpretation, who was the grantor of the west half?
It was Joseph, and Ben, son of Joseph.
So Joseph’s son Benjamin, was selling to Benjamin’s son,
Benjamin “Ferryman,” the remaining west half of the property, his
father having already sold the east half some eleven years earlier.
Significance of the Different Interpretations
Either way, Benjamin “Ferryman” ends up with both halves of the
original property. But in
the first case, he was obviously the son of Joseph.
And in the second case, he was obviously the son of Benjamin,
brother of Joseph.
Which interpretation is correct is anyone’s guess.
So for the moment, at least, one must look elsewhere to
distinguish the two young Benjamins. There do not seem to be any strong or convincing arguments
one way or another. If
Joseph’s son Benjamin could be shown to have inherited other land from
him, by right of primogeniture, then this would easily distinguish him
from Benjamin “Ferryman,” since the latter’s land is well-known
from his 1772
estate. Joseph’s land
on Swift Creek, which has not been accounted for, is one such
possibility.
In the meantime, this writer has placed Benjamin “Ferryman” as
the son of Benjamin, and Benjamin “Jr.” as the son of Joseph.
This is case two, above. While
it is a weak argument, the naming conventions used by the two younger
Benjamins, seem to fit best this way.
For instance, Benjamin “Ferryman” did not have a son named
Joseph, while the other young Benjamin apparently did have a son named
Joseph. Also, the name
“Joel” seems to occur exclusively among the descendants of Joseph,
and not at all among the descendants of Benjamin “Ferryman.”
For those who wish to study these deeds in detail, deed
transcriptions have been placed in our North
Carolina Archives. The following is a brief description of those
deeds along with specific links to them:
Records relating to Joseph Culpepper’s land on Fishing Creek (the
original John Edward’s Tract)
1. 1738 Deed.
Joseph Culpepper purchases 320 acres on Fishing Creek in 1738.
2. 1741 Deed.
In 1741, Joseph sold half of his 320 acres on Fishing Creek to his
brother Benjamin Culpepper. Unfortunately,
the description of the land in this deed is vague and apparently not
correct, and does not match earlier or later descriptions of this land,
except for the description of the north/south
dividing line down the center of the two halves of the tract.
3. 1752
Deed. In 1745, Joseph Culpepper died, and his eldest son,
Benjamin apparently inherited the Joseph’s remaining half of his 320
acre tract, by right of primogeniture.
In 1746, Benjamin Culpepper died, and his son Benjamin inherited
Benjamin’s half of the original tract.
The deed of 1752 is thought to represent a transfer of land
between these two first cousins. Since
one was only slightly older than the other, the designations “Jr.”
and “Sr.” were not deemed adequate, and the elder of the two was
also referred to as “Ferryman.”