Catherine H. Boyce seeks to sell her late husband's trust slaves. John J. Boyce died intestate in Florida in 1849 possessed of "a considerable tract of land," his own absolute slaves, and other slaves, then numbering fourteen, which he held in trust from his father, the Honorable Ker Boyce. The late Boyce left as his heirs the petitioner and their three minor children, one of whom has since died. Catherine reports that the estate's executor has already "sold the slaves owned by her husband absolutely and rented out the land." She herself has now returned to South Carolina and, after consulting relatives and friends, "has come to the conclusion, that the best interests of herself and her children require that the said trust slaves, still in Florida, should be sold, and the proceeds invested in interest bearing stocks." Boyce believes such a sale is reasonable because she is personally "incapable of managing" the slaves and also because, "at present, slave property happens to be in demand and is commanding unusually high prices." Therefore, she prays that the court order that the slaves be sold in Florida and that the proceeds of such a sale be invested "upon the same trusts as now apply to said slaves."
Result: Granted.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
