Jane B. Smith, widow of Samuel Smith, seeks the sale of a slave named Jim, in his early twenties. The petitioner points out that her late husband desired his estate "to be kept together under the control & management of your Oratrix, until the children [named as defendants] respectively arrived at majority." Smith notes that the estate has been settled, that she has received her dower, and that the children over 21 years old have received their shares. She further reveals that 400 acres and 30 slaves have been set aside as the joint property of her three minor daughters. The petitioner asserts that Jim, one of the slaves so set aside, is troublesome, insubordinate, and "of turbulent disposition." She further charges that he "is thievish, and has become annoying to the neighbors in various ways and in fact, it is impossible for your Oratrix to control him." Fearful that Jim will "commit some depredation or crime, that will cause her said wards & children to loose his value entirely," Smith prays that "on final hearing that said slave be sold." The petitioner also voices concern that Jim "exercises a bad influence upon other negroes, especially the younger slaves." Three deponents who "overseered" for the Smith plantation testify that Jim is of reckless nature and, when confronted, acts as if he did not care whether he is killed or kills someone. He is also described as a man of "amorous propensities," who has been known to break into the cabins of female slaves, thus disrupting family life.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
