Dr. Elias Horry Deas seeks to recover the proceeds from the sale of slaves willed to him in trust for a slave woman. Deas explains that his relative, Elias Lynch Horry, executed a will on 1 September 1830; he added a codicil to it nine days later. In said codicil, Horry bequeathed a family of seven slaves, along with two other slaves, to Deas and directed him to sell them and to invest the proceeds in stock. The codicil directed Deas to "apply the interest or dividends [of the stock] to the maintenance and support of Mary Scott (a colored woman) otherwise called Mary Horry, and of her children, and to no other purpose." Horry's daughters, the executrixes of his estate, refused to deliver the slaves to Deas, contending that the bequest was for the benefit of a slave and, therefore, illegal. Deas argues that the bequest "is not forbidden by law." He agreed to let the executrixes sell the slaves, and they put the money ($2240) in the bank until the court decides the issue. Deas asks the court to award him the money in trust for Mary Scott and to order the defendants to account for the hires of the slaves until they were sold.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
