The trustees and executors under the last will and testament of the late Thomas Pinckney seek the court’s assistance in interpreting the will. They represent that the will drawn shortly before Thomas’s death in 1842 conflicts with two earlier documents, one dated 1803 and the other 1813; also it does not cover all the property owned by the testator at the time of his death. Specifically, the petitioners mention that a list appended to his will omits a number of slaves. Thomas Pinckney died possessed of considerable property, some of which he received from his wife, the former Eliza Izard, and which was covered in the 1803 document. His estate now consists of several plantations, a “mansion” in Charleston, many slaves, fine furniture, paintings, and debts. The petitioners contend that the situation is complicated by the fact that Thomas has charged his debts on the property disposed of in his will rather than on the property for which he died intestate. In consideration of this complex and confusing state of affairs, the petitioners seek the court's guidance so that the “rights of several legatees on the true construction” of the will “may be ascertained and discovered.”
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
