In 1843, Kernhappock Sorell's father, Parson Davis, conveyed to her ten slaves for her "sole and separate use & behoof free from all control or molestation" by her husband James M. Sorell. The slaves included Thom and his wife Sally, and their children Thing, Aaron, Charles, Jack, Allen, Ann; and a woman named Mina and her child Lewis. The slaves, however, had always remained "in the possession" of her husband who had "the use of them and the benefit of their labor." In 1851, Kernhappock Sorrell, together with her father, Parson Davis, presents a "Bill for Relief" to recoup profits from her husband for the hire of the slaves and to obtain the appointment of her father as trustee of her property. The court ruled that she was entitled to $4,666 for the hire of the slaves between 1844 and 1851. The husband paid off some of the debt by giving her a forty-five-year-old slave, a wagon, and a debt owed him by a third party, in the form of a promissory note, but he was also ordered to pay her $1,283.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Dallas County Courthouse, Selma, Alabama
