William Gray, "old and infirm," charges his son with fraud. He represents that he was about to move to Tennessee from South Carolina in 1824 and that he owned a female slave and her child, valued at $550, who was "unwilling to come with him." Citing that he disliked "to compel her," Gray traded the two slaves for another enslaved family, comprised of 35-year-old Chainey and her two children, Willis and Westley, ages four and one, respectively. Gray admits that his affliction, "commonly called the Gravel," caused him to leave during the actual trade, but he maintains that he was confidant that his son Andrew "would do nor suffer any injustice to be done him in his absence." He confesses, however, that his son, "designing to cheat, wrong & defraud your Orator of ... the said negroes," caused the title to said slaves to be placed in his own name. The petitioner avers that "said Bill of sale now held by said Andrew was obtained by him, by the grossest fraud -- by an abuse of confidence scarcely parallelled in the annals of filial ingratitude." Gray prays that his son may be summoned and that "your Honour would decree that the Title in, to & over said negroes should be devested out of said Andrew & vested in your Orator."
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Repository: Maury County Historical Society Loose Records Project, Columbia, Tennessee
