Johanna Houston asks the court to attach a slave named Eliza and to "give your Oratrix a decree for said negro woman Eliza and for her hire." Houston, who was widowed some two years prior to the filing of her suit, explains that her father, William Smith deeded Eliza and another slave named Milly to her in 1819. At the time Johanna was married and her husband was "a drinking man and a spend thrift," a fact "well known to her said father." She informs the court that her father deeded the property to her only, "showing that it was his intention to exclude the marital rights of her said husband and secure the property to her and her children or assigns." She complains that, during his lifetime, her husband "continued to dissipate and spend her property," including Eliza whom he sold to one Woodruff Parks without her consent. Johanna claims that Parks has had possession of Eliza for "19 or 20 years," and she fears that he will "run her off so that she will probably be lost to your oratrix." Confiding to the court that her husband left her "in a very destitute condition with a large family to raise," and that Eliza is a "family slave of great and peculiar value," Johanna seeks the court's assistance in recovering her property.
Result: Granted; appealed.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
