During the 1840s, Lewis Abbott made it clear, both verbally and in two wills (neither of which could be found following his death), that he wished to give his second youngest daughter Susan (one of fifteen children) two slaves, Martha and Mandy. The slaves' mother, Lizzy, had nursed Susan following the death of her own mother, and the girls had been Susan's playmates during her youth. According to Susan, a strong mutual attachment had developed between the two slave girls and herself. In 1849, a year after Abbott's death, Green B. Sanders, Susan's brother-in-law and her guardian, purchased Martha and Mandy, ages nine and eleven, from the estate for $390 and $400, respectively. Susan Belcher contends that it was understood by all in her family, at that time, that the purchase was made on her behalf and with her money. Green Sanders, however, has so far refused and still refuses to recognize Susan's ownership of the slaves, or to pay the value of their hires since he has held them in his possession. Susan, now eighteen and married to John Belcher, sues Sanders to obtain Martha and Mandy as well as Mandy's daughter Ellen.
Result: Dismissed; appealed; reversed; remanded.
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Repository: Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama
