Lawson Hathaway Jr. charges his father with illegally selling a slave named Kate, the daughter of a slave of the same name held by his mother in 1785 and referenced in his parents' marriage contract. The said "contract, or in other words a bond with a collateral condition" stipulated that the slave "shall after the Decease of the said Lawson Hathaway” be given “to the brothers & sisters of the said Elizabeth King to be equally divided between them in case the said Elizabeth King depart this life without issue in the lifetime of the said Lawson Hathaway, & in case the said Elizabeth King shall survive the said Lawson Hathaway having issue by him, that then the said negro & her increase to be equally divided between such issue." The petitioner is Elizabeth's only child, but his father asserts "he will sell whenever it suits his convenience (or as your or: would more properly suppose his whim or caprice) any of the increase of the negro woman Kate." He therefore prays that his father be commanded "in no wise to dispose of either the woman slave Kate or any of her increase until the further order of this Court" and "that the aforesaid negro slave Kate together with all her increase shall be forthcoming whenever your or: reversionary interest shall accrue."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
