Isaac Middleton Fair lays claim to a family of slaves. In 1837, Fair married Mary Ann Carroll, the mother of a daughter named Hester; Mary Ann held a slave named Eliza. When Mary Ann died a year later, Fair, "influenced by motives of regard for her daughter ... executed a certain instrument of writing" to Hester giving her a life estate in the slave. It also stated that, should Hester die without any children, the slave would revert back to Fair. He then put Hester and Eliza in the care of his late wife's sister and brother-in-law. The brother-in-law died soon after, leaving his wife "in possession of the said slave." Some years later, Hester married William Taylor; she has recently died without heirs. On hearing of her death, Fair tried to collect Eliza and her six children, but his former sister-in-law, now Mrs. Dorcas Wilson, refuses to give them up. Further, Hester's widower has sued Wilson for the slaves, arguing that, by the original deed, Fair gave up his claim to them after twenty-one years. Fair asserts that this was not his intention but that the deed may say as much; being illiterate, he is uncertain. He also fears that Wilson will try to remove the slaves from the state. He prays that Wilson be enjoined from removing the slaves; that the deed "be constructed according to the principles of justice" by the court; and that the slaves be delivered up to him.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
