Maria Antonietta Copper asks the court to invalidate transactions made by James D. Ashley with regards to property claimed by her grandmother, Jane Copper. Copper claims that her elderly grandmother, "being in good pecuniary circumstances" but unable to travel due to poor health, entrusted Ashley, a hired man on her farm, with transacting business on her behalf. Ashley obtained Copper's consent to purchase a fifteen-acre farm and a six-year-old slave and convinced her to loan money to John Hynson, but had each conveyance executed in his name. Copper explains that her grandmother's infirmities kept her from modifying her will to include the newly acquired property, which also prevented her from discovering Ashley's fraudulent activities. She further charges that Ashley compounded his fraudulent enterprise by transferring the deeds to the property in question to his father, Isaiah Ashley, whom Copper also names as a defendant. She asks the court to compel the Ashleys to render a particular account of their dealings and either annul the transactions altogether or declare them to be for her benefit.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
