Joseph Prowell

Slave-owner in Berbice, shown as of Barbados when he made his will in 1804 but an American with links also to Philadelphia. His estate, Plantation Washington, in Berbice has yet to be traced.

1. Will of Joseph Prowelll [a native of the United States of America but at present] of Barbados [and formerly resident in the colonies of Demerara and Berbice] proved 22/02/1806. In the will he left £4000 to his god-daughter Rachel Prowell Forrester, and appointed his friends Robert and William Pulsford as her guardians. He left £100 to his young friend Sarah Keane of Phildadelphia, and £100 each to the children of Robert Pulsford, and an annuity of £100 p.a. to Elizabeth Whistin [?] of Kent, known as Eliza Wade, 'provided she lives apparently and reputedly a chaste and moral character' [in a codicil he revoked this bequest for her ungrateful behaviour]. He freed three enslaved people, Harry, Chrismas [sic] and old John, the two former boat captains and the latter a cook, and left them annuities of £20 p.a. each. He ordered his property to be sold promptly, except for his Plantation Washington in Berbice, which was to be sold two years [in a codicil extended to five years] after his death. His original residuary legatees were the children of his brother William Prowell of County of York, Pennsylvania, but in a codicil he singled out his nephew William Prowell and niece Mary Prowell in the proportions 5/8ths and 3/8ths, and ordered his produce be remitted to Robert and William Pulsford, 3/4 to be shipped to Liverpool and 1/4 to London.

1. PROB 11/1438/233