In February 1840, Peter Williamson and Arthur F. Williamson became farming partners, renting a plantation from Edmund Tatum on the Alabama River in Lowndes County. They agreed to divide the profits in proportion to the number of slaves each provided (Peter nine and Arthur five) and that Peter's overseer Richard Clanton would work the hands. Before the crop was harvested, Arthur complained that Peter was indulging "a negro woman in a state of pregnancy ... although the said negro was employed in the service of the family during the time she was withdrawn from the labours of the plantation." To satisfy his partner, Peter agreed to split that year's cotton profits of $1,178.19 down the middle. The two had another dispute over Peter's purchase of "a negro boy named Dick." The partnership continued, however, but in 1845 Peter filed suit, charging, among other things, that Arthur failed to produce an account of profits from the 1843 cotton crop, and refused to pay his share of the bills. The dispute also involved a debt due by Arthur for the hire, in the year 1839, of a slave belonging to William Tatum, a minor, who was Peter's stepson and for whom Peter was guardian.
Result: Abated.
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Repository: Lowndes County Courthouse, Hayneville, Alabama
