The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 82
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
it comprised 207,360 acres of land.60 His estate in Natchitoches
was appraised at 108,238 pesos ($156,945). When Murphy's
widow withdrew from the trading firm in 1809,61 one-third of
the holdings of the House of Barr and Davenport in Nacogdoches
amounting to 6,472 pesos ($9,384) belonged to Murphy's estate;
in addition, the estate was given one-third of all stocks of
merchandise belonging to the firm and stored in their ware-
house in Natchitoches and one-third of all uncollected notes.62
Death dissolved the partnership of the House of Barr and
Davenport in 1810. Shortly after Barr died, Agnes Gibson Barr,
his mother, attempted to establish a claim to his property and
demanded it from Peter Samuel Davenport, who had taken
possession of all the personal and real holdings of the deceased
Barr. As Davenport refused to hand over everything to her, in
February, 1818, she filed suit in the United States District Court
for the Louisiana District. She alleged that, as the legitimate
mother of the deceased, she was entitled to "all the estate be-
longing to the said William Barr, consisting of houses, lands,
negroes, stocks, merchandise and other estate, to a very large
amount."63 She further alleged that upon the death of Barr,
Davenport had "possessed himself of the books, papers, securi-
ties, and evidence of debt to which the said Barr was entitled
at the time of his death, as well in his own right, as his share
in the property of the said partnership."64
Davenport did not deny that he had taken possession of the
personal and real property owned by Barr at the time of his
death. To justify his action, however, he produced a copy of
Barr's last will and testament, which was filed in Nacogdoches
on March 15, 1810.65 By the stipulations of this will, Barr's
mother was entitled to the possessions he left her in Item VIII.
60Doc. 49, 71.
l1Jos6 Maria Guadiana to Manuel de Salcedo, MS., January 4, 1810.
Bexar Archives. See also, Lists of Statements, Stocks on Hand, and Other
Property Belonging to the Firm of Barr and Davenport, and Murphy.
Drawn up at the Time of the Demise of Edward Murphy, 1808-1810, MS.,
Department of Archives, Louisiana State University. Photostatic Copies
in the Archives of The University of Texas. Vol. II, 7. (Hereafter these
records will be cited as Murphy Records.)
'2Murphy Records, Volumes I and II.
"3United States District Court of Louisiana, Book E, Case No. 1144,
Agnes Barr v. Peter Samuel Davenport. Transcript in the Archives of
The University of Texas, p. 2. (Hereafter these records will be cited as
Case No. 1144.)
64Case No. 1144, 2.
65Ibid., 40-45.82
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/93/?rotate=270: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.