Elizabeth Leavell asks that her estranged husband, James T. Leavell, "be perpetually enjoined ... from enforcing his recovery" against her father, William Leavell. She declares that her father "executed a deed of two slaves ... to the said James T Leavell in trust for the sole and separate use of your oratrix during her life and at her death to be equally divided amongst" any children she might bear; if she had no children, "the said negroes were to revert back to the said William Leavell or his other children." Elizabeth avers that her husband returned one of the female slaves to her father "and abandoned all claim to her;" however, in 1849 said James "commenced an action of trover ... against the said William Leavell to recover the said slave or her value," and he "recovered a verdict in said action" for $545.62. The petitioner charges that if her husband "were allowed to enforce said recovery and receive the amount recovered ... the equity of your oratrix as well as that of the remaindermen under the said deed would be defeated." She therefore prays that the said slave "may be declared the separate estate of your oratrix ... and that the said James T may be injoined from all interference whatever with said slave." Elizabeth also requests that her father William "may substitute for her trustee in the place of her husband."
Result: Granted pro confesso.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
