10 October 2013

Half of John Sledd's Black Cow

This is part of the inventory of John Sledd which was presented to an Amherst County, Virginia, court in December of 1811.

A truly literal rendering of the handwriting underlined in red might indicate it says "1 Black Cow Half."

That really doesn't make sense--one cannot have half a cow.

There's also the word "Hoes" in the line underneath. That clearly starts with an "H," making the "1 Black Cow Half" seem not quite correct--although some writers do not make letters consistently.

What is probably meant by the underlined item is "1 Black Cow & Calf." Although the uppercase "C" in "Cow" and "Calf" are not made the same.

But that's what makes more sense.

And that apparent "Pi??d" Cow two lines above?

We're working on that. Stay tuned.