The relatives of the late James Brentley seek a partition of eleven slaves that belong to the estate of the intestate. They complain that the eldest brother Etheldred, as administrator of the estate, has "failed to make such partition or division at some times pretending & giving out in speeches that the aforesaid negroes are of such different ages & value that no equal partition or division of the same can be made at other times that several of your orators are infants & of tender age & therefore that no such partition will be valid & binding." The petitioners ask that Etheldred be summoned to answer their charges and that the slaves be divided into appropriate proportions. In an amended petition, Benjamin Jenkins charges that the commissioners "appointed to make said division" were unable to make said division "in consequence of the inequality of the value of the slaves." Jenkins therefore asks the court to "decree a sale of the said Estate in order to [effect] a fair & equitable division."
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
