Willis Newman and Catherine Pressley Edwards Newman accuse Catherine's brother, Lewis Pressley, of mismanaging a trust estate established for her in 1820 by her former husband, Edward Edwards. Edwards conveyed five slaves to Catherine's brothers for her benefit prior to the couple's marriage; he died a year later. The Newmans allege that Lewis Pressley "has frequently for weeks and months at a time taken the negroes mentioned in the deed ... to his own house and has kept them employed in his own business." He has also appropriated "a considerable quantity of money" from her late husband's estate. Four years ago, Catherine bought some land with another brother, William Pressley. Lewis paid for Catherine's portion of the land with trust money, and Lewis and William borrowed the remainder, using Catherine as security. Catherine has recently learned that the land is titled in her brothers' names. William now threatens to throw the Newmans "out of doors if they do not remove by the first of January next." Lewis has even "gone to the house of your complainants & directed & ordered the negroes not to obey your orator in any thing." They ask the court to remove Lewis as trustee and to order him "to come to a full and fair account" with them.
Result: Granted pro confesso.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
