Record of Agreed Intestate Succession among the Grandchildren of Yi Sunsin

This document records the distribution of inherited land and slaves in an intestate succession among the three children of Yi Hoe after his death. Born the first son of Yi Sunsin, Yi Hoe served as the Magistrate of Imsil District, and had two sons, Yi Jibaek (1596-1671) and Yi Jiseok (1612-1679), and one daughter who married Yun Heonjing. Drawn up in 1661 by Yi Hoe’s children, this document recorded the distribution that occurred thirty-eight years before in 1624, one year before their father’s death. The siblings legitimized the primary draft made at the time into an official document meeting legal requirements, and added reserved slaves that had not been identified in the earlier draft.The three siblings established three principles on the distribution. The first concerned the offspring of bequeathed slaves born after the time of distribution.They decided to adhere to the original draft, disregarding the number of offspring and deaths of inherited slaves after the actual inheritance in 1624.Second, Jiseok, who was adopted by his uncle Yi Ye, only inherited slaves at the time of his wedding and did not receive anything after his adoption. To compensate his shortage, the other siblings decided to give him a share from the bequest and slaves who had not been identified previously. The third principle concerned slaves who were designated as ancestral service reserve. As the said slave was weak and unfit for the responsibility, they decided to replace the slave. In addition, following the will of their mother, they bequeathed one female slave to their younger sister Lady Yi, wife of Yun Heonjing, and legitimized the bequeathal. It is also notable that the family appears to have owned forty-seven durak of reclaimed farmlands. Full Text On first day of the eighth eighteenth year of the the Shunzhi era (1661,), the year sinchuk. My younger siblings and I have agreed upon the following documentation.In the gapja year, (1624), while Mother was alive, she distributed slaves and farmland amongst her offspring and left a preliminary draft, which is hereby formally documented. The slaves that each of us inherited in the gapja year have now given birth to and raised many offspring, but the slaves born after the bequeathal in the gapja year shall not be listed in this documentation. Note At the time of the bequeathal in thegapja year, the second son Jiseok had been adopted by our uncle Yi Ye, and thus inherited only newly acquired salves. At the current time of reconsidering the omission, however, I am uncomfortable with Jiseok not receiving an equal share, since he was once our brother even though he has been adopted into uncle’s family. I discussed this matter with my younger siblings and we have recalculated our shares to reflect equal distribution,
including Jiseok.Note In the byeongin year, (1626), in the process of the property distribution agreement amongst father’s siblings, the female slave Deukchun was designated for ancestral service reserve, but during the distribution in the gapja year, this matter was forgotten and overlooked, and the aforementioned Deukchun was listed twice under ancestral service reserve. The female slave Uiyang was also listed under ancestral service reserve but Uiyang, claiming that she was a “government slave at theRoyal Treasury,” betrayed her masters. Since it would be disloyal to our family to register invalid names under the ancestral service reserve, I have discussed the matter with my younger siblings and have listed female slave Malnyeo to take replace one of the slots taken by female slave Deukchun, and female slave Gyesaeng to take Uiyang’s place as part of the ancestral service reserve. Ancestral Service Reserve