Joseph Rawlins senior, of Baltimore

Joseph Rawlins was in London and a signatory of the 1783 address to George III by the absentee owners and merchants, but was of Baltimore at the time of his death.

1. Will of Joseph Rawlins of the island of St Christopher but now of Baltimore, Maryland [made in 1793] proved 04/05/1797. He left his house and land at Cleverley's Hill in Sandy Point St Kitts to his daughter Ann Hutchinson Wallwin. He left a 'negro woman' called Violet to his son Joseph, with whom Violet then was living, and also provided that if his son Joseph returned to the island of St Christopher, Joseph could have the use of six enslaved people for his life, to be chosen by him with the proviso that he did not choose any of 'my tradesmen.' He left his plantations and enslaved people in trust (his trustees were his sons-in-law John Hutchinson Wallwin and Edmund Fleming Akers, his nephew Stedman Rawlins and his friend William Manning) and subject to legacies of £1500 each at 21 to his grandchildren Henry and Maria Rawlins, and stipulated that his bond debts (if the creditors were happy to leave them in place with the security of the plantation [and enslaved people)] and legacies be a charge during the life of Joseph Rawlins the son on the estate, which was eventually to be sold and the proceeds divided between his five daughters, the children of Henry Rawlins and the children of Joseph Rawlins. At the end of the will he explained (1) that he had wanted to treat his children equally but that the infirmities of his son Joseph made the latter incapable of supporting his family (2) that if he had left his [slave] estate to his grandson Henry Rawlins, heir-at-law, or to his son Joseph Rawlins then he would not have known how much to give to his other children to give equivalent value, given the precarious nature of West India property and (3) that he had left his debts as a charge with his estate to be sold on the death of his son Joseph so that the profits from the plantation could flow to his children in the short-term. .

London Gazette 12422 11/03/1783 p.2.

1. PROB 11/1289/43.