In 1853, James J. McKay died, bequeathing his slaves to his wife Eliza Anne McKay during her widowhood; following her death, except for slaves he had acquired by marriage, from his father's estate, and old Joe and Ferryman Jim, he bequeathed his slaves to three heirs, including a life estate to Emily S. Kemp, to be divided among her children after her death. The excepted slaves, McKay explained in his will, should be hired out for two or three years to raise money for their colonization in Liberia. The plaintiffs contend that the excepted slaves include only those specified, not the excepted slaves and their increase. They ask for a distribution with this in mind. The question, as the Supreme Court saw it, was whether the excepted slaves and their increase should be viewed as the same "stock."
Result: Rejected.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
