James Winston, the brother of the late Peter M. Winston, seeks to have his late brother declared "intestate" since it is "a moral impossibility" to execute the devises stipulated in his said last will and testament. James recounts that the said Peter, who was the owner of seven slaves, desired his executor to purchase a family of slaves for the purpose of emancipating them and settling them "comfortably" in a free state. He further reveals that Peter's will directed that a certain Kitty Ailstock be settled "in a comfortable & respectable manner" during her life; and that at her death, her place be sold and the proceeds used for the benefit of Eliza and her children. Noting that the Supreme Court ruled James's will to be "valid," the petitioner argues that there are no funds with which to carry out the ruling. He particularly cites that Eliza and her ten children commanded a price of $7000 in 1851 and that they "could not now be purchased for three times that amount." The petitioner therefore prays that "on final hearing it be decreed that the charities designed by the Will of the said Peter M. Winston except the devise to Kitty Ailstock are void for impossibility & that therefore the said Peter M. Winston died intestate." A related petition reveals that Peter M. Winston was Eliza's father.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Archives
