In 1864, large slaveholder Ephraim Osborne died, bequeathing three shares of property to his grandchildren, the children of his three deceased daughters. Two of the shares were to be in "negro property," and the other in land, to be drawn in lots. In 1866, the executors of Osborne's estate sue the heirs, arguing that with emancipation the legatees lost the two shares, and could not "look to others parts of the estate of indemnity." The related case report reveals that the North Carolina Supreme Court weighed in on the side of the executors, stating that the "political death of the slaves" had the same effect "as if they had all died a natural death, and in that case it is settled that the legatees must lose the legacy, and cannot look to the other parts of the estate for indemnity."
Result: Granted.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
