George Madden, executor of the late John Madden, seeks a partition of his father's property "between your orator & Brothers." Madden represents that his father died in 1795 and that his will "gave to his wife Susannah Madden all his effects whatsoever while she remained a widow;" the said will specifically devised a slave named Jim to his son Charles and a slave named Suse to his son Abraham "at her decease." The petitioner points out that Susannah kept said property until her death in 1815 and that in that 20-year period the said slave Suse had six children. He further asserts that during this time his mother "permitted her said sons Charles, Abraham, William and John, to have and apply to their own use & benefit, at various times, money & other property of the estate." Madden now maintains that his brothers Abraham and Charles caused the slaves Jim and Suse and her family "in the night to leave the plantation" and that they have "retained them in possession contrary to his consent." Denying "the negro Suse with all increase" to be Abraham's "own property," the petitioner prays that "the children of the negro Suse may be ordered to be divided between your orator & Brothers aforesaid as the Estate of the said John Madden remaining at the death of the said Susannah." He also requests that his brothers account for all "the property of the Estate" that they received from their mother for their "own use and benefit."
Result: Partially granted pro confesso.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
