Charlotte Mitchell and Juliann Mitchell Foster, both girls being minors under the age of twenty-one, claim that in 1840 they were given six slaves by their father, James Mitchell. The slaves were placed in trust with Benjamin B. Beale for the girls' use and benefit. One of the slaves, Nancy, has since given birth to a boy named Alexander. The deed of trust stipulated that the slaves would remain in the possession of James Mitchell until the girls reached the age of twenty-one, at which time they were to receive their individual share of the slaves. In 1845, however, James Mitchell sold all but one of the slaves, a woman named Deal. The daughters, by their next friend Francis F. Foster, fifteen-year-old Juliann's husband, complain that the "slaves and their increase do of right, and properly belong to them when your oratrices shall have attained the age of twenty one." They sue their father as well as those who purchased the slaves, seeking to implement the trust. The related deed of trust reveals that, in fact, only five slaves were placed in the trust. The slave Caroline was not mentioned in the deed.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Pickens County Courthouse, Carrollton, Alabama
