When Smith died in 1747, Gist married his widow, Sarah (or Mary) née Massie, and became very rich as a result, with large holdings of land and slaves.
[1] Gist obtained properties via the Smith and Massie families, including the shop at Hanover Town, the estate of Gold/Gould's Hill and many others.
He supplied the company with tools, materials and slaves, so he became the only member to make money from the scheme which was intended to create a navigation canal and drain the land for farming.
In 1782, the Virginia Assembly vested his property, including 82 slaves, in his stepdaughter, Mary Anderson, because he was a non-resident British subject.
[8] Later, he regained ownership through legal action, though he apparently never returned to the United States,[1] living in London in the last years of his life, still engaged in business.
[8] Gist drafted a will dated June 22, 1808, that freed his slaves and provided funds for them to be cared for and educated according to Anglican practices.
In the meantime, some of the former slaves ran away, some refused to move, some were too old to survive the long journey, and many children were born, so the actual numbers cited vary widely.