Elenor / Elender / Eleanor Lavender

After the death of David Lavender of Newberry County, SC, in 1826, his children needed a guardian. Robert Mars, who was husband of David's sister Sarah Lavender Mars/Marrs, was named guardian in 1830.

"The State of South Carolina. To His Honor, William Nelson, Ordinary in and for the District of Newberry.

The humble petition of Robert Mars shewith that William Lavender (a minor of the age of choice), John Lavender, Hugh Lavender, Mary Ann Lavender, Robert Smith Lavender (minors under the age of choice) are entitled to a considerable estate which on account of their minority they are unable to manage -- Wherefore your petitioner prays that he may be appointed the guardian both of the persons and estates of the aforesaid infants. Caldwell & Fair, pro petitioners.

I, Elenor Lavender, the mother of John, Hugh, Mary Ann and Robert Smith Lavender, the within named minors under the age of choice, do hereby consent to the appointment of the within mentioned Robert Mars as guardian of the aforesaid minors.

This 4 December, 1830 Elender X Lavender, her mark

attest Smith Lavender"

filed in the Court of Ordinary, Newberry

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Elenor Lavender, wife of David Lavender, petitioned in Newberry County, SC, to be allowed to leave the area before final settlement of the estate of her deceased husband:

From NEWBERRY COUNTY, SC EQUITY RECORDS 1818-1844, copied and provided to THE LAVENDER LINE by Sharon J. Lee, M.D.:

"Equity 1833, Box 18, Pkg. 12: James McCracken Jr., Exc of David Lavender dec. and widow Eleanor Lavender vs Robert Mars Committee for William Lavender and guardian for John, Hugh, Mary A., and Robert Smith Lavender. Bill for partition. Filed 16 May 1833. Children of David Lavender were William (who is "in a state of mental imbicility and deaf") John (16 yrs.), Hugh (14 yrs), Mary Ann (12 yrs) and Robert Smith (10 yrs). There was another child, Jane, who died 1828 unmarried. The Exc James McCracken had already moved to Ga. The widow wants to move out of state but cannot until the estate is settled."

Elenor / Eleanor did move, with two Lavender brothers-in-law, to Alabama. An 1836 Deed recorded in Newberry County, SC, shows she sold David Lavender's 194 acres to M.W. Gracey; see in MEDIA, with details on David Lavender page.

The 1840 US Census for Pickens County, Alabama (Pickens and Greene Counties changed borders several times), Elenor (Elender) Lavender has 4 male and 1 female slaves. Names are not given in the 1840 census, and ages are only by general groups. Census page 312; Image #23/117.

She appears in the 1850 US census for Pickens County, Alabama, living with son William (38) and daughter Mary Ann (34). Son Hugh (33) is next household; daughter-in-law Ruth on the other side.

She appears in the 1850 US Slave Schedule for Pickens County, Alabama (later the Mantua, Greene County area), where five individuals (not named) are listed under her name, with another five belonging to her neighbor or household partner, widowed daughter-in-law Ruth. Three individuals are old enough to have been with Elender in South Carolina, according to the 1826 Estate Appraisal for David Lavender (see also in MEDIA). The Appraisal mentions nine slaves by name: Lucky (woman), girls/boys Lucinda, Thomas, Solomon, Harvey^, LoryAnn and Ezekiel, and Margaret (woman) with her child named George. But they were not sold then, since David's widow, Elender, remained on their farm until she moved on to Alabama in the 1830s. Enslaved people on the farms of Elender and Ruth in 1850 were:

1. Ellender Lavender Female 56 1794 Black
2. Ellender Lavender Male 34 1816 Black. Possibly Thomas. A black farmer named Thomas Lavender, 55 (b. ~1815), lives in the Mantua, Greene County area in the 1870 census, on the same page as Elender and her son William. He has 8 children living at home (crossing two census images), of whom one is Ellen, age 13.
3. Ellender Lavender Male 30 1820 Black. Possibly George. A mixed-raced farmer named George Lavender, 45 (b. ~1824/25), lives in the Mantua, Greene County area in the 1870 census.
4. Ellender Lavender Male 19 1831 Black
5. Ellender Lavender Female 14 1836 Black
6. Ruth Lavender (widow of Elender's son Rob't Smith Lavender d. 1849) Male 45 1805 Black
7. Ruth Lavender Male 15 1835 Black
8. Ruth Lavender Female 15 1835 Black
9. Ruth Lavender Male 12 1838 Black
10. Ruth Lavender Male 8 1842 Black

Elenor appears in the 1855 Pickens Co., Southern Dist., census with a male and female, both over 21, presumably William and Mary Ann.

She appears in the 1860 census with son William age 49; next door (previous page) is son John S. Lavender and his wife Julia Ann and their children. She has $5000 in "personal property" but slaves are not enumerated in this census.

She appears (as Ellen) in the 1870 U.S. Census for Greene Co., age 76, still with son William (58) and now also with son John's oldest daughter Mary Hammitt, age 32, who was keeping house.

Elenor died in Greene Co., Ala. where her Estate was probated in 1876. Her sons William and John Smith Lavender had died before the probate took place. Distribution list of cash amounts to all her surviving children and grandchildren gives each of their names. An inventory list of her household mentions "desk and books" and a "loom, warping bars and reel." The parcels of land she had held in Greene County were enumerated in connection with their sale in 1873 for $474 to Samuel J. Winn (in Township 24 Range 1E and 2E).

Expenses for Eleanor's coffin fittings were paid to William P. Lavender, over $20. A final doctor's bill was paid to Samuel Snoddy, covering the period June 11-19, 1873. A promissory note for $27 was signed on May 29, 1873 by Elenor Lavender with "her mark." Elenor must have been buried, at Mantua, but the cemetery there, while findable is almost entirely overgrown.

In August 1873, Elenor's daughter Mary A. Lavender Barnett, aware that her signature appeared on an Administration Bond for her brother (John Smith Lavender)'s, administration of their mother's estate, filed a petition to revoke her purported signature on that Bond. She stated that all the signatures on the Administration Bond (including that of John S. Lavender's wife, Julia Ann Frances) had been placed there by a third party, and all by the same individual, and not by the parties themselves.

The sale of the household goods of Elenor Lavender took place October 17, 1873, with items, proceeds, and buyers' names listed in several pages at the end of the Estate file. The loom and warping bars went to granddaughter Mary E. Hammitt for 90 cents. A bushel of salt and 24 bushels of corn went to Elenor's son John S. Lavender for $15.20, along with a hog for $1.65.

Children of DAVID LAVENDER and ELENOR included:

• WILLIAM LAVENDER, b. Bef. July 1812, South Carolina; d. October 9, 1873, Mantua, Greene Co, AL; m. UNMARRIED.
• JANE LAVENDER, b. April 1814; d. November 20, 1827, Newberry Co., South Carolina.
• JOHN SMITH LAVENDER, b. 1817, South Carolina; d. April 9, 1874, Greene Co., Alabama.
• HUGH LAVENDER, b. Bet. 1817 & 1819, South Carolina; d. Bet. 1850 & August 1873; m. ELISA (ELIZA), Bef. 1850; b. Abt. 1821, Alabama; d. Aft. 1850.
• MARY ANN LAVENDER, b. Bet. 1816 & 1821; d. Aft. November 1876; m. ? BARNETT, Aft. 1850; d. Aft. 1873.
• ROBERT SMITH LAVENDER, b. May 25, 1823, South Carolina; d. August 12, 1849, Greene Co., Alabama. His Will was filed in DeSoto County, Mississippi, as a sworn statement by witnesses to Robert's expression of his wishes before his death.