The petitioners, David Carter, James Rhea and his wife Elizabeth Carter Rhea, and Landon Carter, are the heirs of the late Matilda Carter. They represent that the 1814 will of Susannah Wendell, their grandmother, stated "I give & bequeath to my daughter Matilda M. Carter, a negro girl named Harriett." Susannah Wendell died in 1814, followed shortly thereafter by Matilda. The executor of Susannah's estate therefore took possession of Harriett and then, due to ill health, hired Stephen Cantrell, the heirs' uncle, to administer the estate. The petitioners contend that for almost forty years, Cantrell "never informed your Orators of their rights" and instead "delivered them [the slaves] nominally into the hands and ownership of his son George M. D. Cantrell." They charge that Cantrell and his son George "as such trustees, and under such fraudulent concealment, have converted said slaves to their own use and have applied the services, hire and profits thereof, to their own use; and have refused to deliver up to your Orators the possession of said slave[s]." The petitioners seek an injunction requiring the Cantrells to appear in court and to ensure that Harriett and her nine descendants are not removed from the county.
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Repository: University of Arkansas at Little Rock, School of Law, Little Rock, Arkansas
