When Mary Wellborn's husband, Isaac Wellborn Sr., died about 1839, she received his entire estate for her use during her lifetime, including four hundred acres of cotton land, horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, farming utensils, corn, fodder, oats, household and kitchen furniture, and thirty slaves. Mary was, however, "very feeble in mind and body," and "wholly incompetent to manage her affairs." As the years passed, she became childish and imbecilic. Between the death of her husband and Mary's own death in 1850, Elias Wellborn moved on her plantation and ran it, working the slaves on her land as well as on his. In 1842, he harvested sixty-one bales of cotton, averaging four hundred pounds. He shipped the cotton to New Orleans, and netted about $732 in profits. Between 1843 and 1850, he harvested between 45 and 80 bales each year. By 1850, the date of Mary's death, the number of slaves in her life estate had risen to thirty-seven, including twenty-five children under age ten. Following Mary's death the Probate Court appointed James Thomas, Madison County Sheriff, as the administrator of her estate. Thomas seeks a full account of Elias Wellborn's profits during the eight years he managed the plantation.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Madison County Public Library Archives, Huntsville, Alabama
