In 1795 and 1796, for "valuable consideration," John Adams purchased two slaves, Saul and Job, from George Adams, obtaining "good & sufficient bills of sale for the same." When George Adams died in 1799, John and William Adams became administrators of his estate, with Eli McCalley posting a security bond. Within a short while, Seth Griffith and others sued the administrators, claiming that they had purchased Nancy Adams's (George's daughter) interest in the estate. When, in 1802, an arbitration commission awarded Griffith and others £134 "eighteen shillings, five pence, one farthing," the price of the two slaves, and the court confirmed the award, John and William Adams refuse to pay. In 1803, they sue Griffith and the others charging that they are "guilty of great misconduct and grossly erred both as to the law and facts in this by charging your orators with the price of two Negros" in the settlement of the intestate's estate.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: Delaware State Archives, Dover, Delaware
