In 1850, in his will, Nathaniel P. Thomas directed that following his death two tracts of land should be sold and that the proceeds used to purchase a suitable home for "my mulatto woman Lucy" and her children. The next year, he added a codicil, explaining that if the existing laws of the state of North Carolina did not permit this, his executor should settle Lucy and the children in a "State Territory or country" as she might select. Thomas died in 1851. In her suit, free mulatto Lucy Thomas, a resident of Ohio, claims that the executor, Nathaniel J. Palmer, provided them with moving expenses, but not a suitable home "or settlement" as the will directs. She sues Palmer for $1,500--the price of the two tracts of land--"as well as for general relief."
Result: Rejected.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
