b. circa 1828, d. 26 June 1880
Birth | circa 1828 | Isabella Louisa Fullen was born circa 1828 in Virginia estimated from the information on her gravestone.3 |
Ward | 1839 | In 1839 Isabella became the ward of her sister's husband, William McNeal Ryburn, following the death of Isabella's father in 1828 and of her mother in 1834.1 |
Marriage | 6 Jan 1848 | She married Mathew Ryburn Clark, son of James Clark and Ann Ryburn, on 6 Jan 1848 in Washington County, Virginia.4 |
| | They were second cousins. |
Land-Sell | 1 Sep 1848 | On Sept. 1, 1849 Mathew and Isabella sold their interest in a 9th share of several tracts that had belonged to Isabella's grandfather James Fullen. They received $60 as Isabella's one fifth part of her deceased father's share.5 |
Land-Buy | 5 Oct 1848 | The following month Mathew bought 220 acres on the waters of the North Fork of the Holston River from Rebecca Caywood for $2,500. |
Cens-1850 | 5 Aug 1850 | A year and a half after their marriage, Mathew and Isabella appeared on the 1850 census together. Mathew was thirty years old and Isabella was twenty-one. Their first child, Robert, was listed as eleven months old.6 |
Land-Sell | 4 May 1858 | Mathew and Isabella appear to have suffered a financial set back in the late 1850s. On May 4, 1858 Mathew sold John W. Kreger his 3 tracts of land in trust to secure debts owned Buchanan, Preston and Dickenson.7 |
Land-Sell | 10 Jun 1858 | Two months later, in June 1859, Mathew and Isabella sold 80 acres to Ben K. Buchanan for $200. The land was described as near the Valley Road and Saltworks Rd.8 |
Contract | 15 Oct 1858 | And on Sept. 23, 1858, Mathew sold much of the family's personal property to Samuel Skinner for $90.94. The list included farm animals, two wagons, and various household items. However 3 weeks later Mathew's father James, along with Mathew Buchanan, repurchased the items and executed a deed loaning them back to Mathew.9 |
Land-Sell | 4 Jun 1859 | The following June James also purchased Mathew's remaining 140 acres for $1. James executed a deed in trust such that Mathew and Isabella could continue to live on the land and support their family from the profits of the farm. James also stated that should Mathew die the land was to be conveyed to his children, allowing Isabella her dower share.10 |
Cens-Sum | | Isabella and Mathew appeared on 3 additional Washington County federal census enumerations during their married lives. Mathew continued to farm. His 1860 census entry listed him as the owner of land worth $6,000 which was probably not entirely accurate. The agricultural schedule recorded the person reponsible for managing a given farm regardless of whether they actually owned it. Mathew was recorded with 100 acres of improved land and 50 acres of unimproved land. The 1870 census, following the Civil War, valued Mathew's holdings at $1,200. The couple's children appeared on census records as expected, with the exception of 1870 where William J. appears to have been recorded as Mary J. and James S. as Dan S. [many Washington Co. households were misrecorded that year]11,12,13 |
Heir | 1878 | Isabella was one of the heirs of James, Mathew and Robert Buchanan, her uncles, through the line of her deceased mother, Mary Buchanan Fullen. She received $626 from their estate when it was settled in the late 1870s.14,15 |
Death | 26 Jun 1880 | Isabella died on 26 Jun 1880.3 |
Burial | | She was buried at Old Glade Spring Cemetery in Washington County, Virginia.3 |