A family appeal concerning Ruddock property
Written from Johnston on 14 September 1826, the letter asks Joseph Story to investigate several claims connected with the Ruddock heirs. Tabitha Devereux refers to land behind Copp’s Hill in Boston, a share she says belonged to her mother, four allegedly unsold or unpaid shares, a balance in a probate book and an account rendered by her father in 1793. These are claims made by the writer; the underlying land, probate and account records have not yet been reconstructed.[1]
The manuscript records the figures £950.0.0, £1,385.14.6 and £829.2.3. Another entry appears as £927.6 with the final unit or figure unresolved. The figures are preserved as documentary readings and are not treated here as proof that any sum was legally due.[1]
People and relationships
Tabitha Story Devereux was an older half-sister of Joseph Story (1779–1845). They shared the same father, Dr Elisha Story; Tabitha's mother was Ruth Ruddock. The letter itself reinforces this identification: it addresses Story as “Brother,” is signed by Tabitha Devereux and repeatedly appeals to their common father and family history.[1, 3]
Joseph Story's public office
Joseph Story was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1811 and served until his death in 1845. Tabitha's appeal deliberately invokes that public role when she contrasts the justice he provides for others with the justice she seeks within the family. The letter is nevertheless a private family demand, not evidence that the disputed property was ever before him in a judicial proceeding.[1, 2]
Evidence and limits
The identities of Tabitha Devereux and Joseph Story, and their relationship as half-siblings through their father, are supported with high confidence. The ownership of the land, the probate balance, the validity of the claimed shares and Joseph Story's responsibility for them remain unverified. Nothing in this Context establishes that Story withheld property, that Tabitha's legal interpretation was correct or that the sums she listed were recoverable.[1, 2, 3]
Sources & evidence (3)
- Primary source · manuscript Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000029, images 1–6 and reviewed transcript of the letter dated 14 September 1826; image 7 contains the address panel. View the archive record Supports the address, wording, family appeal, documentary amounts and the writer's property claims.
- Institutional biography Federal Judicial Center, History of the Federal Judiciary, “Story, Joseph.” View the judicial biography Confirms Joseph Story's judicial office and service.
- Published genealogy Ruth Story Devereux Eddy, “The Ancestry of Judge Joseph Story, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Essex Institute Historical Collections 83, no. 1 (January 1947), pp. 59 and 63–64. Open the digitized volume Supports the Story–Ruddock–Devereux genealogy and the family relationship used in the identification.