This Day in Henrico History: Oct. 17 – Henrico resident Peter Winston died in 1784

On October 17, 1784, Peter Winston, a resident of a Henrico County property known as Half Sink along the Chickahominy River, died. His death date and residence are preserved in the catalog description of an estate account book held by William & Mary’s Special Collections Research Center.

The collection, identified as Mss. MsV Ap40, covers the years 1784 through 1790. It is described as Peter Winston’s estate account book, a record of the financial and administrative work associated with settling his affairs after his death.

An estate account book is a window into a period when households, farms, debts and property obligations were recorded by hand. Such materials can help historians reconstruct relationships and economic activity that otherwise receive little attention in broad histories of the Revolutionary era.

The surviving catalog description is unusually specific about the place as well as the date. It identifies Half Sink on the Chickahominy River as Winston’s home in Henrico County. It does not, however, establish his age, the circumstances of his death or the precise contents of every transaction in the volume.

The collection is open to researchers, according to William & Mary. Its existence provides a documented link between an eighteenth-century Henrico resident and an archival record preserved more than two centuries later.

Sources: https://scrcguides.libraries.wm.edu/repositories/2/resources/7179; https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_7179