Tempe Golding, her eight children, and her four sons-in-law sue her husband James for control of nine slaves. Tempe's father John Foster left to Tempe and her children "a negro woman named Prissey without any control of her husband James Golding." Prissey now has eight children. James Golding holds them and has had "for many years the entire disposal of their labour." The petitioners charge that James Golding has little property of his own, "is very intemperate in the use of ardent spirits," and is heavily indebted. They assert that Foster's will established a trust estate outside Golding's control. Golding, however, "claims the right to controle said negroes and to receve and dispose of the proceds of their labour." He has threatened to sell the slaves, and the petitioners fear that they will lose their property. They ask the court to interpret the clause in Foster's will and to determine whether Tempe's interest in the slaves is a life estate or an equal share with her children. They also ask the court to enjoin James Golding from selling or pledging the slaves, to appoint William Hill as trustee to manage the slaves, and to order Golding to deliver the slaves to Hill.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
