Richard Brashears and his wife, Mary Eliza Rawlings Brashears, petition the court for guardianship of Mary Eliza's brothers, William J. and Philip Rawlings, both orphan minors. They state that they are "willing and able and desirous" to take over guardianship duties from Doctor William Brewer, whom they claim allows the boys to be "badly and harshly treated" by his family. They assert that the boys are "very unwilling" to stay with Brewer and tell the court that on one occasion, Brewer sent the sheriff "down the country for this boy, and compelled him to go home to Annapolis in very cold weather, as if he was a run away negro." The Brashearses claim that the boys' "principal property," a farm outside Annapolis, is in "a very neglected condition" and requires "some person of competent skill living near the property" to ably take care of it. Richard is a farmer and is "willing to undertake the said trust." They also allege that Brewer neglects the boys' educational needs. They "most earnestly solicit" the court "to perform this act of justice and charity to these helpless children left in the world with no near relative but your petitioner."
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
