The children of the late John Kinsler join with the heirs of the late William Kinsler in seeking the court's assistance in protecting their interest in slaves from John Kinsler's estate. They contend that shortly after Kinsler died in 1780, his widow and their mother, Maria, conveyed her share of the estate to them. The children were still minors at the time, however, so possession of the slaves remained with Maria and eventually with her new husband, Gabriel Friday. The children, now adults, agreed to allow the slaves to remain with their mother and stepfather as a "mere voluntary gratuity" for their "comfortable support." Gabriel later "in gross violation of [their] munificence," sold eleven of the slaves "to some person & to some place unknown." Gabriel now refuses to divulge the slaves' whereabouts or "whether they had gone to the North, East, West or South." They ask the court to order the Fridays to deliver the slaves to them "to be distributed according to their Rights," to account with them for the slaves' "yearly value," and to "enter into security for the forthcoming of all the Negroes."
Result: Withdrawn by plaintiffs.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
