Mary Frances McLean and her minor children seek to void the sale of four slaves from her late husband's estate. Martin Oakley and Nathaniel Porter, the administrators of the late Thomas Porter, petitioned the court during the March 1849 term, stating that Thomas had contracted to sell the said slaves to their father, George Porter, a free man of color. The petitioners "positively deny that there was any such Contract," but the court granted the petition; the slaves were sold at auction to their father George Porter in May 1849. The petitioners show that the slaves "did not sell for one half thier value." McLean and her children assert that the sale was fraudulent because they, as heirs, were not made parties to the administrators' petition. They pray that George Porter be enjoined from disposing of the four slaves and that the court order the slaves resold at their fair market value to pay the debts of the estate. The administrators' petition, which is included as a related document, states that George Porter is a "prudent, discreet, and money makeing Negro," who previously purchased himself, his wife, and one of their children. Of the four children in question, they "have always resided with their father and mother; seperate and apart from the ownership of white persons; acting and treated as free people of Colour."
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
