In 1845, Elpha Young filed a suit against her husband, James A. Young, for breach of contract, contending that he refused to pay her an income from her separate property as required in their marriage agreement. Shortly before the sheriff served papers in the case, James Young "sold or gave and conveyed away all his property, both real and personal," except two slaves, Daniel and Mima, cited in the contract. Young gave Abraham Pennington, his son-in-law, a slave named Davy, age thirty; he gave his son Robert Young a slave named Jim, age about forty-five, and Maria, about eight; he gave his daughter Eleanor, or Nelly, Quinney a woman named Rody, about twenty-five, and her son Henry, about eight. He also gave away his horses, mules, cattle, and land. He did so, Elpha Young contends in a supplemental bill of complaint, to thwart the arguments in her original suit. She asks for a subpoena requiring the defendants to give a "full, true, direct and perfect answer" to her charges. Elpha's related original suit reveals that, by a clause of the marriage contract, James Young had given Mima and Daniel to his new bride.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Sumter County Courthouse, Livingston, Alabama
