In 1819 William H. Compton executed a deed of gift to his daughter Euphemia Compton Stafford whereby she would receive "a negro girl named Tisby and her increase, remainder to the heirs of said Euphemia." Both Tisby and Euphemia bore children -- Tisby bore a son named Nelson and Euphemia gave birth to the petitioner, Mary Stafford McDonald. Now Mary McDonald and her husband, Neal McDonald, sue one Seaborn Lewis claiming that, by a pretended 1835 purchase from James Stafford, the late Euphemia's husband, he defrauded them of Nelson, their rightful inheritance. The McDonalds claim that Lewis received Nelson from Stafford to pay a gambling debt, while he well knew that the slave belonged to Mary, Euphemia's heir. They ask that the slave be returned to them and that an account be made of his yearly value since he has been in Lewis's possession. They estimate that "said negro slave is worth Five hundred dollars & that his yearly value ... is about forty dollars." The McDonalds hasten to add "that said negro boy is valuable to them as a part of a family of slaves having been raised in the family ... and that no pecuniary consideration would induce them to give up their claim to him."
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Circuit Court Clerk's Office, Clayton, Alabama
