The petitioners desire the court's intervention to prevent the sale of a slave. In 1854, Henry Gibbs, who resides in North Carolina, "conveyed to Elias L. Allen five negro slaves" to be held in trust for the benefit of Henry's wife, Elmina, during her lifetime; upon Elmina's death, said slaves were to be held in trust for the use and benefit of the couple’s children. Elias Allen has "accepted the said trust and undertook its duties." However, the petitioners charge that Elias tried to "defeat the said Trust" by claiming the slaves "as his individual property by virtue of an alleged contract with either" Henry or Elmina Gibbs. Elias sent one slave, a girl named Caroline, into South Carolina where the court ordered that she "be sold as the property of the said E. L. Allen” in the district of Spartanburg. The heirs of Henry and Elmina Gibbs now request the court to issue an injunction to prevent the sale of Caroline. They also ask that the slave be delivered "to the complainants or such persons as" the "court may direct to be held subject to the Trusts in the deed aforesaid."
Result: Partially granted; dismissed.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
