In 1821, Elizabeth Robeson of Fayetteville, North Carolina, gave two slaves--Milley and her daughter Catharine--to her granddaughter, Susan Winchester, "to have & to Hold" forever. When Susan married Horatio Hills and moved to New Orleans, she left the slaves with an aunt, Mary Hall, in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Her aunt owned Milley's husband, and Susan believed that New Orleans was unhealthy for slaves. In any event, Susan's husband was wealthy and they did not need additional slaves. Some time later, the young slave Catharine having grown up to adulthood and married was permitted to live with Susan's aunt and uncle, Eliza and Henry Spencer, who owned her husband. In 1844, Mary Hall died; Milley and her husband went to live with the Spencers. That same year, however, Eliza and Henry Spencer also died. The executor of their wills, John McKenzie, Hills's uncle by marriage, took the slaves, including Catharine's four children, Dick, Joe, Charles, and Sarah. In subsequent years, Catharine gave birth to four more children, three girls, Clarissa, Ella, and Eady, and a boy William. In 1856, without notifying Susan, McKenzie sold the slaves as if they were part of the Spencers' estate, except for young William, at public auction for $6,465. McKenzie turned the money over to Thomas M. Gilmer, the husband of Henry Spencer's daughter, Eliza R. Gilmer, who demanded a final settlement of the Spencer estate. Susan Hills sues McKenzie and the Gilmers. She seeks to be reimbursed for the sale of the slaves, with interest, and the hire of the slaves "from such time as your Honor shall deem just and proper." She also asks that William be turned over to her as his rightful owner.
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Repository: Tallapoosa County Courthouse, Dadeville, Alabama
