{"petition":[{"petition_analysis_number":"21384946","petition_url":"https:\/\/dlas.uncg.edu\/petitions\/petition\/21384946","state":"South Carolina","county":"Fairfield","location_type":"District","file_day":1,"file_month":2,"file_year":1849,"filing_court":"Equity","end_date_circa":"y","end_day":1,"end_month":12,"end_year":1851,"ending_court":"Equity","result":"granted","enslaved_count":17,"fpoc_count":0,"total_people_count":24,"repository":"South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina","abstract":"Thomas Ashford, a resident of Georgia, petitions for a settlement of his late parents’ estates.  By his 1828 will, James Ashford left slaves and land to his widow, Mary, and his minor daughter, Sarah.  Mary held a life interest in her inheritance; however, the will directed that, should Sarah die without issue, her share would then be divided among her brothers, Thomas, James, Robert, and John Ashford.  Both Mary and Sarah Ashford have since died intestate.  James, one of said brothers, now claims nine of the estate slaves as his own, asserting that they were gifts from his mother.  The petitioner argues that such gifts are void because some of the slaves given were only part of Mary’s life estate; the others are the increase of Sarah’s inheritance and should have been divided among all her surviving brothers.  Thomas reveals that his two other brothers, Robert and John, “received large advancements” from their mother.  The petitioner believes that these advancements should count as their share of their mother’s estate, but the brothers refuse to account for them. Therefore, the petitioner prays that his brothers account for the “hire rent & use of land & negroes” advanced to them and that the court then order a fair partition of said property.","subjects":[{"subject":"Purchase\/Sale (enslaved family)"},{"subject":"Purchase\/Sale prices (enslaved)"},{"subject":"Heirs dispute"},{"subject":"Family kept together (Black)"}]}]}