ENJones' Executors v. Hoskins
Metadata
Case Number: 2260
Location: SC00101
Court Term: 1850 June
Catalog Record: https://archives-alabama-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1vpqcjv/01ALABAMA_ALMA215682820002743
Collection Creator: Alabama. Supreme Court
Description: This case is summarized in Alabama Reports, volume 18, pages 489 through 493. Excerpt from the report: Error to the Chancery Court of Franklin. Tried before the Hon. W. W. Mason. The bill in this case was filed by the defendant against the plaintiffs in error. The original bill alleges that on the 20th of November 1828, Mrs. Nancy Hoskins, the mother of complainant, being about to intermarry with Arthur Jones, now deceased, with his knowledge and consent, executed to the complainant a conveyance for the following slaves, Sarah, Swift, Martha, Haywood, and Maranda, and thereupon the complainant entered into an agreement, by which be re-conveyed to his mother three of the slaves she had given to him, to-wit, Sarah, Swift and Martha, to be retained by her during her life, and after her death to be returned to the complainant. The bill also alleges that the marriage between Arthur Jones and Mrs. Hoskins was consummated, and that by the marriage. Arthur Jones became entitled to an estate during the life of his wife in the three slaves, reconveyed by the complainant to his mother; that upon the death of Arthur Jones, his executors took possession of said slaves and their increase, consisting of two or three others, and asserted an absolute title to them, and were about to sell them as the absolute property of Arthur Jones, deceased, without regard to the right of the complainant in remainder, after the death of his mother; that the complainant has reason to believe and does believe that the object and intention of the executors are to defraud him of his just rights; that if said slaves are sold, they will be removed beyond the limits of the State, and his recovery of them at the death of his mother will thereby be rendered difficult, if not impracticable; and that they are family negroes, to whom he is much attached and whose loss could not well be compensated by the mere recovery of the value. The prayer of the bill is for an injunction restraining the sale, and removal of the slaves from the Stale, and that the rights of the complainant be protected. An injunction was granted by a circuit judge, restraining the executors from removing the slaves from the State, unless they should give bond in the sum of five thousand dollars, conditioned for the forthcoming of the slaves to abide the final decree that might be rendered in the cause. The defendants answered the bill, and allege that the conveyance of the slaves was a fraud upon the marital rights of Arthur Jones, the second husband of complainant's mother; that it was executed pending the treaty of marriage between her and Arthur Jones, and without his knowledge or consent. Mrs. Jones, however, who was also made a defendant, asserts in her answer, that before the deed was executed, Arthur Jones was advised of her intention to make it, and fully approved of it; and that during the marriage he never claimed more than a life estate in the slaves. Notwithstanding the bill and the injunction, the executors, having given the required bond, proceeded to sell the slaves at public auction, as the absolute property of their testator, at the time of his death, and Mrs. Jones became the purchaser at the sum of $5011, for which she executed her notes payable in twelve months. She then took possession of the slaves, and filed a cross-bill against the executors and the complainant; in which she admits the right of the complainant, and alleges that she purchased the slaves, because they were family servants and she was unwilling for them to pass into the hands of strangers; and she prayed to be relieved from her purchase, and that her notes might be cancelled. After filing the cross-bill, Nancy Jones, the mother of the complainant, departed this life, having duly executed her last will and testament, by which she bequeathed the slaves in controversy to the wife of complainant, and appointed him executor, in which character he has come into the possession of them; but under the laws of Mississippi, where the testatrix and Mrs. Hoskins both resided, the complainant as husband takes no interest, in right of his wife, in the slaves. These facts are brought to the view of the court by a supplemental bill filed by the complainant, who, also; as executor of his mother, revived her cross-bill seeking relief against the purchase, she made of the slaves at the sale by the executors. On the final hearing, it was shown that during the pendency of the suit, the executors had come to a settlement in the Orphans' Court of the estate of their testator, and Mrs. Jones, who was afterwards examined by the complainant as a witness in the case, after being first released by him from liability by reason of the deed of gift previously executed by her, agreed with the executors that they should retain in their hands out of the legacy bequeathed to her an amount sufficient to pay her notes, with interest, until the termination of the suit, to be then appropriated to the payment of those notes, if the suit should terminate in favor of the executors, or to be paid over to her and- her notes given up, if the suit should be decided in favor of the complainant. The testimony of this witness was objected to on the ground of interest, but the chancellor overruled the objection. The chancellor dismissed the cross-bill, but, thinking that the rights of the complainants were established by the proof taken in the cause, decreed in favor of the complainant, and declared that the sale by the executors worked a forfeiture of the life estate in the slaves, and ordered the notes, given by Mrs. Jones to the executors to secure the purchase money, to be cancelled, and the contract to be annulled. From this decree the executors have taken an appeal to this court.
Division: Northwestern Division
Language: English
Repository: Alabama Department of Archives and History, 624 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36130
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Collection Title: Alabama Supreme Court case files
Subject - Topics: African Americans; Estates (Law); Inheritance and succession; Marriage; Slavery
Subject - Places: Franklin County (Ala.)
Subject - People: Haigh, Jacob; Haywood, slave in Franklin County and Marengo County, Ala., of Nancy Hoskins Jones and William S. Hoskins; Hoskins, William S.; Jones, Arthur; Jones, John W.; Jones, Nancy Hoskins; Maranda, slave in Franklin County and Marengo County, Ala., of Nancy Hoskins Jones and William S. Hoskins; Martha, slave in Franklin County and Marengo County, Ala., of Nancy Hoskins Jones and William S. Hoskins; Sarah, slave in Franklin County and Marengo County, Ala., of Nancy Hoskins Jones and William S. Hoskins; Swift, slave in Franklin County and Marengo County, Ala., of Nancy Hoskins Jones and William S. Hoskins; Winston, Isaac
Time Period: 1850-1859
Case: Jones' Executors v. Hoskins
Upload Batch: SC00101_Jones_v_Hoskins
Repository: Alabama Department of Archives and History
Source: From: Jones' Executors v. Hoskins
