Dr. Samuel Cordes and Dunbar Paul, executors of the late Alexander Watson, seek to settle his estate. By his 1839 will, Watson decreed that his six slaves be left to John Fenton Mercer, "President of the Colonization Society ... with the request that he permit ... Lizzy and her children ... to migrate to Liberia or any other country they may select and when they shall so migrate and become emancipated ... I give them the rest and residue of my Estate." Watson's heirs have contested the will, averring that, because he essentially emancipates his slaves, the document is "absolutely void." Further, the petitioners believe there is no such person "as John Fenton Mercer of Virginia who is or was President of the American Colonization Society but they are informed and believe that the Honorable Charles Fenton Mercer ... is or lately was a vice president ... and that the Honorable Henry Clay of Kentucky is or lately was President of the same Society." Cordes and Paul deem it impossible to settle the estate due to "conflicting claims and the doubts and difficulties arising out of the said will." They therefore pray that the court direct an administration of the estate after determining the validity of the will.
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
