Benjamin, Samuel Wennall, Jane Eliza, Thomas Franklin, and St. John Phillips Ellis petition by their mother and guardian, Mary Ellis. The Ellis children recently inherited six slaves when the estate of Samuel Ellis Sr. was settled. The children owe one hundred dollars to another heir "to equalize the value of the Lots of negroes" assigned. The petitioners represent "that this is the only property they possess, and that they are destitute of clothing, and almost of food, as they now receive rations from the poor house." Mary Ellis reports that a local planter has offered to buy the children's slaves for $350 or $375 each, "a higher price than could now be had for them in Charleston." Mrs. Ellis prays for permission to sell the slaves and to use the proceeds "for the support & decent maintenance of her said children," after paying the sum needed to equalize the shares in the estate.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina