Sarah Ann Waters and Mary Elizabeth Taylor state that their father, William Thornton, "was possessed of and entitled to a valuable personal estate consisting of negroes stock plantation [and] that he was an imprudent man addicted to gaming, and had spent and squandered away a valuable property." To prevent Thornton from losing all his property "in the gratification of his imprudent amusements," he was prevailed on to execute a deed of mortgage to Gassaway Rawlings in 1777 for which Rawlings gave no money or other consideration. Shortly thereafter, Thornton went to sea, "where he is supposed to have died, and has not since been heard of;" his widow, Sarah, married Richard Rawlings, Gassaway's brother. Upon their marriage, Sarah and Richard had two sons, Richard and Frederick. The petitioners now complain that after the deaths of Richard (the elder) and Sarah, Gassaway Rawlings claimed the mortgaged property as his own, conveying to them shares that are less than their due as Thornton's sole surviving heirs. Seeking their rightful inheritance, the petitioners ask the court to subpoena the Rawlingses and to order them "to convey and deliver to your complainants in the proportions aforesaid the property aforesaid."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
