In 1827, William Patterson Sr. died intestate in Baldwin County, Alabama, leaving a large estate of "Lands, Negroes, and a large Stock of Cattle, Horses, Hogs &c." A short time later, William's widow remarried and then died shortly thereafter, and so did four of their sons. The surviving son and heir, William Patterson Jr., a minor, grew up and became, according to his aunt, the petitioner, a habitual drunkard. He "was in the continual habit of drinking ardent and intoxicating spirituous Liquors," she wrote, "and [was] almost perpetually drunk." According to the petitioner, William Jr. was "by nature an idiot, and that he was incompetent to hold and manage property in his won proper person. In 1845, William Jr. married Elizabeth Scypes. He died in 1847. The petitioner, Mary Wheeler, who is William's aunt, contends that Elizabeth Scypes married her nephew "for the Sole and avowed purpose alone of obtaining the possession and ownership of the property then in his possession." William Patterson Jr. conveyed in trust his property to Stephen Barclay for his wife. Now, following William Patterson Jr.'s death, Mary Wheeler sues the widow. She seeks, among other things, the fourteen slaves in the estate, arguing that her nephew was not only a drunkard but mentally incompetent to manage his property.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: University of South Alabama Archives, Mobile, Alabama
