Stark and Polly Gillam, and Archibald and Catharine Hutchison seek settlement and division of the estate of James Gouge, deceased, their father and father-in-law. They contend that Elizabeth Gouge, widow and sole executrix of the estate, has never given an inventory or accounting of the estate, which consists of land and personal property, including slaves. Mrs. Gouge sold a house and lot in Port Royal, Virginia and a slave named Ben, (both part of the estate), and purchased eight hundred acres of land in her own name. The petitioners obtained an order for the division of the property, but when commissioners arrived at the home of Mrs. Gouge for that purpose, "she utterly and positively refused to give up or shew either any personal, or real property, of the estate of her Testator: forewarning the said Commissioners as well as your Orators and Oratrixes from touching in the least, or in any manner laying hands upon any of the property in her possession," claiming a life estate in the property.
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Repository: Kentucky Division of Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky
