I have been doing some work recently for a client who had ancestors in Surry County, Virginia. Evidently in case of unexpected deaths a jury was formed to determine the cause of death. Her 8x great grandfather, Mathew Battle, was involved in at least two of these juries. The jurors would view the bodies, or what remained of them, and then determine what happened. This makes some fascinating reading!
On September 5, 1662, Mathew was part of a jury impaneled to find the “occasion And Actuall Cause” of the death of Wm. Billingsley. They found that he “upon the 17th of July Last went out into the woods to keepe his masters cattell & wee having viewed the place where his bones was found as alsoe the said bones and his torne cloathes, we doe conclude resolve and reporte as followeth: that in order to the occasion wee find that the said William Billingsley being a servant who has bene not long before very sick in the distemper vulgarly called seasoninge, and being not well Recovered; was growne weeak and was sent into the woods to keep cattell the day above said and wee finde and reporte that through sickness being ill at ease and Inclyneinge to a carelesse dispare did not soe care fully Indeavour his own preservation as a thoughtfull and contented person would have done but by reason of the aforesaid condition hee Remaininge in the wood night & day Partly by his weak Careless and sloathfull estate & partly by feare of his masters severity hee gave himself over and Continued in a swamp neare unto a tunne of water untell hee was so weake that he could hot helpe himself: As to the Actuall or Instrumental means of his death that he Continnuinge without food or other suckour in the woods and he remained so untell hee became a dead corps or els soe weake that when wolves or other wilde beasts who hath now devoured all his flesh seized upon him, he was not able to make resistance to save him selfe and so became not only dead but devoured.”[i],[ii]
[i] Davis, Elizabeth T, Surry County Records, Surry County, Virginia, Books I and II, no publication data, p. 59.
[ii] Haun, Weynette Parks, Surry County Virginia Court Records (Deed Book 1), 1652-1663, Book I, Durham, North Carolina, 1986, p. 119.
Then, in September 1665 Mathew was on a jury that had been empaneled to ascertain the cause of the death of a servant belonging to Mr. Phillip Limbry. They found that she “being sick…by the instigation of the divell [devil] Nott having the feare of God before her Eyes did upon the third of this month willfully went into ye river this beinge the effitient cause of her death and that there she was … drowned in the water wch. was the material or actuall cause of her death to whc. we have subscribed upon oath.”[i],[ii]
[i] Davis, Elizabeth T, Surry County Records, Surry County, Virginia, Books I and II, no publication data, p. 75.
[ii] Haun, Weynette Parks, Surry County Virginia Court Records (Deed Book 1), 1664-1671, Book II, Durham, North Carolina, 1987, p. 19.
