James Riveer

James married to Winnifred Thomas on November 14th, 1771. Their marriage license was issued on November 12th in Northumberland County. They had seven children that were listed in the family Bible but only five children were named in James' will and one of those was already deceased.

James was a silversmith, a trade possibly passed down through the family. In April of 1778 the Northumberland County Court bound Rodham Thomas, son of Peter Thomas deceased, to James Riveer to learn his trade and also be instructed in reading, writing and cyphering.

James wrote his will on November November 30th, 1815. In the will he left to his son James junior that land where he already lived along with three slaves, large shop tools, a yoke of oxen and cart. James left to Joel the land "where I now live" plus three slaves and the small shop tools. He left four slaves to Cyrus and three slaves to Polly plus one more slave that was left jointly to Cyrus and Polly. Additionally he left sums of cash to the children of his deceased son William. Winnifred was not mentioned in James will so she had likely died already. James was able to write and signed his own will.

James' will was proven on December 16th, 1816 in Lancaster County Court. An inventory and appraisal of his estate was carried out three days later. The inventory listed 15 slaves by name. The large smiths tools were valued at $100 and the small tools valued at $40. Other items included a yoke of oxen and a cart, two guns, two horses and 884 pounds of pork valued at $9 per pound. A number of cattle, swine, sheep and ducks were also counted. The total value of the inventoried estate was $4,725.98.

In the spring of 1818 several of the slaves willed to his children by James were sold and the profits divided.