Henry McKenzie represents that he purchased a town lot in Nashville in 1849 from Delilah Sumner, a free woman of color. He states that said lot "was devised from the estate of William B. Downs decd, who died in the town of Nashville in March 1846 intestate;" Downs, a free man of color, "left no children or issue" and "his nearest relatives were slaves, & of course incapable of inheriting." McKenzie reports that Sumner claimed to be entitled to said lot since she was Downs's "nearest of kin capable of inheriting" and that she traded said lot for her husband whom he held as a slave for life. Fearing said property will escheat to the state, the petitioner "asks your Hon. body to pass a law, relinquishing on the part of the state all claim to the property above mentioned."
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
