Bladen County NcArchives Court.....Bartram - Deceased, William 1788
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Connie Ardrey n/a February 26, 2009, 7:30 pm

Source: Colonial Records
Written: 1788

Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1788
November 03, 1788 - December 06, 1788
Volume 24, Pages 952 - 994

CHAPTER XXVI.

An Act to Quiet Thomas Brown, of Bladen County, Esquire, in His Title to and 
Possession of Divers Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments Therein Referred To.

Whereas William Bartram, late of Bladen county, Esq., deceased, died 
intestate, possessed of divers tenements and hereditaments, which descended to 
his only son William Bartram, who departed this life intestate and without 
issue, whereby all the said real estate descended to Mary Robeson (formerly 
Bartram) wife of Thomas Robeson, now deceased, and Sarah Bartram, since the 
wife of Thomas Brown, Esquire, the only surviving children of the said William 
Bartram, the father, and heirs at law of the said William Bartram, their 
brother: And whereas after the said Thomas Brown and the said Sarah Bartram 
intermarried, they agreed to make partition of part of the said real estate 
with said Thomas Robeson and Mary his wife, and on the eight day of February, 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, the parties made mutual 
conveyances to each other, the moiety of each sister being conveyed to her and 
her husband in joint tenancy, as in and by the conveyance of the said Thomas 
Robeson and Mary his wife, to the said Thomas Brown and Sarah his wife, 
bearing date the day and year aforesaid, may more fully appear: And whereas 
afterwards, that is to say, on the twenty-fifth day of March, one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-nine, the said Thomas Brown and Sarah his wife, in 
order to secure provision for their daughter Elizabeth Brown and her issue, as 
herein after is mentioned, by indenture bearing date the day and year last 
aforesaid, conveyed to George Lucas, of Bladen county, gentleman, all the 
lands and tenements mentioned and described in the before mentioned conveyance 
from the said Thomas Robeson and Mary his wife, to the said Thomas Brown and 
Sarah his wife, and a moiety or undivided half part of all the other lands, 
tenements and hereditaments to which the said Sarah was jointly entitled with 
her said sister of the estate of their said father William Bartram, Esquire, 
and the said Sarah Brown then languishing under a dangerous indisposition, and 
not likely to live until the next court of her county, and the judges of the 
superior courts being then on their circuit, so that there was no probability 
of her living until she could be examined touching her free consent in 
executing the said last mentioned deed of conveyance, she the said Sarah Brown 
declared to the persons who were witnesses to the execution thereof privately 
and apart from her husband the said Thomas Brown, which witnesses were 
requested by her to hear and certify her said declaration, that she sealed and 
delivered the same as her act and deed of her own free will and consent, 
without any fear of or compulsion from her said husband, all which the said 
witnesses have testified in a certificate annexed to the said deed, and the 
same is sworn to by John Davis, Esquire, the surviving witness: And whereas 
the said George Lucas, on the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year 
aforesaid, reconveyed all the lands, tenements and hereditaments herein before 
mentioned, comprised in the conveyance of the said Thomas Brown and Sarah his 
wife, to him the said Thomas Brown, his heirs and assigns, of all which he 
hath ever since continued in quiet and peaceable possession; and at the same 
time the said Thomas Brown in consequence of a previous agreement between him 
and the said Sarah Brown his wife, and as a condition upon which she consented 
to convey her estate, did enter into one bond or obligation to the said George 
Lucas in the penalty of ten thousand pounds currency, conditioned that the 
said Thomas Brown should within twelve calendar months from the date thereof, 
convey to the said George Lucas all the before mentioned lands and lots 
mentioned in the said several conveyances, in trust for him the said Thomas 
Brown during his life, and after the death of the said Thomas Brown, then in 
trust for Elizabeth Brown, daughter of the said Thomas and Sarah, for her 
life, and after the death of the said Elizabeth Brown, the daughter, then in 
trust for the children of her the said Elizabeth in tail; and in case the said 
Elizabeth Brown should die without issue at the time of her death, then in 
trust for the said Thomas Brown, his heirs and assigns forever: And whereas 
the said Thomas Brown in pursuance and execution of the several trusts 
mentioned in the condition of the same bond, did by indenture bearing date the 
eleventh day of April in the year last aforesaid, therein reciting the said 
condition, convey to the said George Lucas, his heirs and assigns, all and 
singular the lands, tenements and hereditaments in the said indenture and the 
before mentioned bond and conveyances mentioned, and referred to upon and for 
the several trusts, intents and purposes as in the condition of the same bond 
is mentioned and expressed, or in and by the said several deeds and 
conveyances, registered in the registry of Bladen county, reference being 
thereto had may more fully appear: And whereas afterwards, that is to say, on 
or about the twenty-ninth day of the same April in the year last aforesaid, 
before the sitting of the county court of Bladen, and whilst the judges of the 
superior court were on their circuit, the said Sarah Brown departed this life, 
without having been privately examined agreeably to the directions of the Act 
of Assembly, touching her free consent to the execution of the before 
mentioned conveyance of the twenty-fifth of March, one thousand seven hundred 
and seventy-nine; and the said Elizabeth Brown, daughter of the said Thomas 
Brown and Sarah his wife, having since departed this life at the age of five 
years or thereabouts, the said trust estate by the tenor of the deeds and 
conveyances herein before mentioned devolves upon the said Thomas Brown, his 
heirs and assigns: And whereas it appears upon indisputable proof to this 
General Assembly, that as the said Sarah Brown hath expressly limited her 
estate to her own issue in tail, her intention was to exclude her other heirs 
in favour of her husband, the said Thomas Brown, which is fully expressed by 
the documents exhibited by him the said Thomas, so that the substance of the 
Act of Assembly for the alienation of estates of feme coverts hath been fully 
complied with, and even the formalities as far as it was practicable; and the 
intention of the law being no more than to prevent the alienation of the 
wife's estate through the undue influence or by the compulsion of the husband, 
and the said Thomas Brown in the present case taking no estate by the said 
conveyances in the first instances but what he had before, it is just and 
reasonable that he should be quieted in this title to and possession of the 
lands and premises herein before referred to:

I. Be it therefore Enacted by the General Assembly, of the State of North 
Carolina, and it is hereby Enacted by the authority of the same, That all the 
before mentioned deeds and conveyances shall be held, deemed and taken to be 
firm and effectual in law for the conveyance of the lands, tenements, 
hereditaments and premises therein mentioned against the heirs of the said 
Sarah Brown, and so as to bar them and every of them forever; and that the 
conveyance by indenture from the said Thomas Brown and Sarah his wife to the 
said George Lucas, bearing date the twenty-fifth day of March, one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-nine, as before mentioned, with the private 
examination and declaration of the said Sarah Brown thereto annexed, now upon 
record in the registry of Bladen county, shall be held, deemed and taken, and 
in all courts of law and equity shall be construed and adjudged to be good and 
effectual in law for conveying the estates of the said Thomas Brown, and the 
said Sarah Brown his wife, and each of them, of, in and to the several lands, 
tenements, hereditaments and premises in the said last mentioned indenture, 
mentioned in the same manner as if the said Sarah Brown had been privately 
examined with respect to her free consent to the execution thereof in any 
manner prescribed by law, and as if such examination and declaration had been 
certified by any judge, justice, court or commissioners for that purpose 
legally appointed; any law, usage or custom to the contrary in any wise 
notwithstanding.

II. And be it Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in all or any suit or 
suits which may hereafter be instituted against the said Thomas Brown, his 
heirs or assigns, by the heirs of the said Sarah Brown, his late wife, or by 
any other person or persons claiming by, from or under them, or any of them, 
for the recovery of all or any of the lands, tenements or hereditaments 
mentioned or described in the said last mentioned indenture of conveyance, 
this Act may be given in evidence in the same manner as public Acts without 
special pleading, and shall be a perpetual bar to any such suit; any law to 
the contrary notwithstanding.


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