Petition #20185101

Abstract

According to Sarah A. W. Cohan, her father, Edward D. Branch of Green County, Alabama, died possessed of "Lands, negroes, stock of every Kind, promissory notes, accounts &c." She charges that, after her father's death, William G. Jones, her brother-in-law, obtained letters of administration on the estate. As administrator, Jones worked the plantation with the slave property, collected monies due on behalf of the estate, hired out some of the slaves and received the value of their hires, and sold the crops made on the plantation. Jones later sold the land and "a part of the Negroes, & Stock" for "large sums of money," and distributed the proceeds to members of the family. He even allowed to be sold a slave named Gustavus, who, although in Edward Branch's possession at the time of his death, was actually Sarah's property. According to Sarah, she had received Gustavus as a gift from a Mrs. Edwin Askew of Nottaway County, Virginia, but because she was a minor the slave had been placed and had remained in her father's possession until his death. Sarah charges that Jones, her brother-in-law, fraudulently mismanaged her father's affairs. Among other things, she asserts, Gustavus should never have been turned over to her guardian, Thomas P. Giles, another brother-in-law.

Result: Dismissed.

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Citation information

Repository: University of South Alabama Archives, Mobile, Alabama

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