The 1814 territorial tax list for Cape Girardeau County shows James L. Fortenberry in German Township, taxed $2.00 on five enslaved people with no land listed. The index also names Henry Fortenberry and the Ables' neighbors in other townships.
In July 1810, James L. and Henry Fortenberry sat together as jurors in the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas. James L. also heard a debt case against Ezekiel Able, the same man who had given him a title bond the year before.
On 1 May 1809 Jeremiah (Jerimiah) and Ezekiel Able of the District of Cape Girardeau, Territory of Louisiana, bound themselves to James Leath Fortenberry for $1,800 to give him clear title to 300 acres, including William Smith's improvement, beginning at a sugar tree near the fish trap, on a line between Wm. Murfey and Wm. Smith and across the Little Bayou to Boyd's corner, as soon as the United States confirmed their own (Spanish-era) claim. They reserved one acre at the fish trap. Ezekiel Able acknowledged the bond before Justice George Henderson; David Farril and Js. Boyd also witnessed. It was recorded 20 July 1810 in Deed Book C, pages 203–205 (printed abstract no. 461). This post combines two earlier posts that shared the abstract image with the full deed-book pages and clearer photographs. James Leath Fortenberry's middle name possibly traces back to John Leeth of Anson County, NC (1750s), but this is not yet confirmed.
Ezekiel Able's 790 acres on the west side of White Water, next to Reason Baily and “whereon James L. Fortenberry now resides,” were seized by Sheriff John Hays to satisfy Edward F. Bond's December 1808 judgment of $93.12 and 5 mills in the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas. The land was sold at auction on 24 March 1809 to Morgan Byrne for $32; the sheriff's deed is dated 25 March and was recorded 26 March 1809 (Deed Book C, pages 72–74; printed abstract no. 375). This post combines the original printed-abstract post with the full deed-book pages. It places James Leath Fortenberry on Able's land by March 1809, five weeks before the Ables bonded him a 300-acre tract of his own.
