Mary E. Baines, with the authorization and assistance of her husband, Isaac N. Maynard, claims that her ten slaves have been illegally seized by the sheriff to satisfy her husband’s debts. Mary acquired two of the slaves, whom she describes as her “separate paraphernal property,” prior to her marriage to Maynard: she purchased a man named Jim from a “dealer in slaves” and received a woman named Caroline as a gift from her grandmother, Emily Bridges. Since her marriage, Caroline has had two daughters, and, as a related document reveals, one of her daughter now has an infant child. Mary received the seven other slaves as "dotal property" from her husband’s brother, Jacob B. Maynard. Mary admits to being “induced” to mortgage her property to secure a debt that was “entirely and exclusively” her husband’s and to confessing judgment in favor of J.W. Burbridge & Co., but she claims “utter ignorance of her rights.” She now maintains that her dotal property “is not liable for” the said debt and that, legally, she could not “alienate or encumber" it. She asks for $1,000 in damages for “contract fees, for loss of time and services of said slaves, for trouble and annoyance of attending to these proceedings, and the annoyance of having her said property advertised for sale.” She also asks for an injunction to terminate the proposed sale of her slaves by the defendants. Two differing ages are provided for two of the slaves. Jane is said to be eighteen years of age in the original petition, and twenty-eight in a supplemental petition. Esther is said to be twenty-eight in the original petition and thirty-four in the supplemental petition.
Result: Granted; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: West Feliciana Parish Courthouse, St. Francisville, Louisiana
