Greetings,
I am working on some property research in Albemarle County, Virginia, and I have come across names that I think are ancestors of my wife, who is from Colorado.
I have located a number of messages regarding Horace W. (Walker) Via, who was born in Albemarle County, VA in 1847 (son of Ira H. Via and Amanda Shifflett Via).
In 1871, Horace W. Via entered into a contract to purchase 200 +/- acres in Western Albemarle County, VA from William G. Fretwell and R.S. Campbell, trustees. Horace Via paid the 1st of three installments of $530, and then failed to complete payment.
In the Court of Chancery in Albemarle County, the trustees said that Horace W. Via "became involved in a encounter [?] with a citizen of this county, which resulted in the death of his antagonist, and having made his escape from the officers of the law is now believed to be in one of the north western states, perhaps the state of Ohio, and your orators suppose is determined permanently to abandon the property and state." The case was settled in 1877, and the trustees sold the land to another party.
During that same time, it would appear that Horace's mother, Amanda, attempted to sell a portion of the land in question, but as she did not have clear title to it, had to give it up.
The 1880 census shows Horace W. Via's wife Drucilla (Lucilla) is living with Horace's father Ira and his stepmother Amanda along with (presumably) a number of her children. Horace is nowhere to be found.
A number of people on these lists say that Horace's nickname was "Bee", and that he is the Bee Via who is living in Macon County, MO in the 1800 census with an [assumably] new wife named Samantha (20 years old) and two sons, a 5 year old (born in IL) and a 7 month old (born in MO).
The fact that Bee's son Christopher was born in Illinois, that his son Richard was born in Missouri, and that his wife Samantha was born in Ohio matches somewhat with the suspicion in the court case above that Horace W. Via had moved to "one of the north western states, perhaps the state of Ohio."
Does anyone have more information about this? Can anyone confirm that Horace W. Via and Drucilla (Lucilla) Slater had a daughter named Mary in 1871 who married a James M. Whitlock?
W. Scott Smith
Lynchburg, VA