needed to make a riding chair. It also would need to be painted and a harness made. According to Colonial Williamsburg craftsmen, “. . . [the] harness . . . was the product of a lengthy apprenticeship in cutting, stitching, and assembly that usually began around age thirteen.” 11 Drawing: Riding Chair The riding chair met the family’s needs. The disabled child could accompany her mother on tasks that took her away from home. Similarly, because the riding chair was small, the older children could drive it and with their sister at their sides make deliveries, sell goods and carry out other tasks. Also, as they matured, the older children probably learned to be caregivers. Emily’s mother and stepfather probably combined their households as soon as possible. In 1830, the birth of a baby girl made thirteen under one roof. No slaves were in this household, indicating perhaps her stepfather did not work in agriculture or if he did his employer owned the slaves. 12 Emily’s father estate was still being settled when her stepfather died. The sequence of the administrator’s payments to the older children misled their birth order. Milton received his distribution in 1832 when his mother received hers. He turned 21 years old that year. Next year, Parthena was not yet age 21. But her husband was and became eligible to receive her portion of the estate, which he did. Emily received her portion of the estate in 1834. This distribution proved that she either had already turned 21 or would turn 21 that year. The sequence of distributions made Emily appear the youngest of the three whereas Parthena was. 13 Trees, Elizabeth Holliday and Samuel Osborn, Andrew Redmond and Unknown, Elizabeth (Holliday) Osborn and Andrew Redmond 11 Ed Crews, “Wheels and Riding Carts,” CW Journal: The Journal of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation , Winter 2004-2005, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (www.history.org : 13 June 2018). Also, Ed Crews, “Working in Harness,” CW Journal: The Journal of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation , Spring 2004, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (www.history.org : 8 April 2019). 12 1830 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, p. 45 (penned), Andrew Redmon [Redmond]; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 June 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 169. 13 Abbeville Dist., S.C., Court of Ordinary, Receipts & Expenditures, 5 May 1834, Samuel Osborn Estate. Also, Greenwood Co., S.C., Cemetery Records , 3:20, 3:161.
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