In his will, Nathan Sanders of Fairfield District, South Carolina, bequeathed "certain negro Girl called Sarah" to his wife Mary during her lifetime and following her death to his eldest daughter Elizabeth. If Sarah had children, Nathan said, they should go to his second and third daughters. In 1838, following Nathan's death (and the deaths of his two youngest daughters), Mary moved to Alabama, to be near Elizabeth. By then, Sarah had four children, and Sarah's daughter Eve had five children. In 1839 or 1840, Mary sold Eve and her children to Robert S. Cowan and Thomas Hollingsworth "without consideration and a bill of sale." In 18444, Elizabeth initiated a suit to recover her slaves. Now married to James Land, she comes back to court to add her mother's second husband, Thomas Godfrey, to her original bill and pursue the recovery of her slaves, and damages equal to the value of their hire.
Result: Rejected; appealled; affirmed.
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Repository: Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama
