Greene County, NC - Edwards vs Sheppard & Edwards ~~~~~~~~~~ 1024 - EDWARDS vs SHEPPARD & EDWARDS NC Supreme Court Case, found at the NC Archives, Raleigh, NC Greene Co – complaint of Winifred Edwards widow of Col. Thomas Edwards late of Greene Co – vs James Glasgow Sheppard, adm of Thomas Edwards dec, Theophilus Edwards and Henry Edwards all of Greene Co, William Murphey and Polly his wife and John Heath and Sally his wife of the County of Washington in Georgia, Thomas Edwards, John Edwards, Isaac Edwards, Nancy Edwards and Absalom Edwards all of Greene – last 4 are infants and wards of Benjamin Hardee of Greene Co, Joel Altman and wife Elizabeth of Wayne Co, Benjamin Hardee and wife Polly of Greene, Blaney Harper of Greene and Elizabeth his wife, Molly Hill of Lenoir Co, Nancy Sheppard of Pitt Co, and John, William, Thomas, James, Mary, Zilphia, Elizabeth, Sarah and Matthew Stanly of South Carolina, defs Winifred stated that in the latter part of 1808 she was engaged to be married to the late Col Thomas Edwards and was married to him in January 1809 and continued until his death in 1816 and he left no children – the following are his heirs Theophilus and Henry Edwards, brothers Polly the wife of William Murphey, Sally the wife of John Heath all of Washington Co in Georgia, the daughters of a desc brother – not named Children of another deceased brother, not named – Thomas, John, Isaac, William, and Dempsey Edwards, Polly the wife of Benjamin Hardee, Salley, Nancy, Absala Edwards all of Greene Co, Elizabeth the wife of Joel Altman of Wayne Co Elizabeth the wife of Blaney Harper of Greene Co, Molley Hill of Lenoir Co, Nancy Sheppard of Pitt Co who were the sisters of Thomas Edwards dec Children of Zilpha Stanly, another of his sisters, who it is believed reside in SC to wit John, William, Thomas, James, Mary, Zilpha, Elizabeth, Sarah and Matthew Stanley - whether all these people are still alive or if they are dec or who are their representatives are or whether the females are married we are unable to determine that at this point Thomas had several tracts of land before the marriage and then purchased more after the marriage, he also had a large personal estate consisting of slaves, money and other chattle, and great sums due to him from various persons – exactly what he had the said Winifred was not sure about – he died intestate – James Glasgow Sheppard was the Adm and he took on the brother of Thomas, Theophilus Edwards, to assist. – said Theophilus since the death of Thomas has produced a purported deed executed 6 Jan 1809 for $5,000 a tract of 1100 acres – adj mouth of Peter's Branch where it empties into the Fort Run at the head of the Mill Pond, adj William Taylor's tract which he purchased from Joseph Scurlock, Samuel Brown, county road going from Bullhead to Sheppard's bridge, Joshua Goodson, line of a patent granted to sd Thomas Edwards for 640 acres, Ward's corner, Lowe's ???? branch – also another tract of 300 acres being part of the above mentioned patent of 640 acres being between Lowe's ??? and Lane's branch, Ward 1400 of the acres described includes the manor house and plantation which Thomas had as of his marriage – the said Theophilus has since the death of Thomas produced 3 other deeds said to have been executed by the said Thomas on 6 Jan 1807 in which the said Thomas for love and consideration of his brother, Theophilus, conveyed the following property – tract of 350 acres in Greene Co on the SS of Fort Run adj to patent line, Joseph Hall, Williams path – another deed dated 7 April 1814 for the sum of $6000 for 1140 acres on the Great Contentney adj Peter's branch, mill pond, William Taylor – another tract of 100 acres adj Samuel Brown, Nauhunty sein being part of a tract purchased of John Taylor – another tract of 435 acres being part of a tract granted to Sol. Ward for 535 acres on 3 March 1755 adj Lane's branch, Fort Run being part of a tract purchased of Ezekiel Ward – another tract of 400 acres being part of a patent to Frederick Gibbles for 600 acres on 26 Oct 1767 on the head of Rainbow, adj Byrd, Richard Hill – one other deed purporting to have been executed by sd Thomas Edwards on 9 April 1814 – for $4000 – the following Negroes – Mike, Dick, Charles, Jack, Jeffery, Toney, next name not readable, Avsi ???, Jack, Edith, America, Miley, Little Jack, Esther, Elleck, Mille, George, Isham, Niplum, Greene, Sam, Simon, Lewis, Abigail, and Davey being the Negro slaves then owned by said Thomas except some he acquired through his intermarriage with Winifred, and one who was an idiot, five feather beds being all he owned save one, one mahogany dining table, one mahognany side table, one walnut bowfat, one maple desk and 12 windsor chairs being all the furniture he possessed except some articles of trifling worth – 8 head of horses, 73 head of cattle, 200 head of hogs which constituted the whole of his stock a total of 3825 acres of land and including the manor house, 25 Negroes, his stock – total of $9,000 on which a credit is endorsed but the sum is not known by the plf which leaves the widow with a small pittance not enough to survive on – Winifred thinks the deed dated 6 Jan 1809 for $5000 was not executed until after his marriage treaty had been made and was done in contemplation of the marriage and in fraud of the martial rights and fraud on the part of Theophilus – she also states the other deed of 6 Jan 1807 was executed after the marriage and was voluntary – she states the 2 deeds of 7 April 1814 for $6000 and one for $4000 was also voluntary and for no valuable consideration – she states the deeds were in the possession of said Thomas after the time they purported to have been executed and no money was ever paid or consideration given by Theophilus and even at the minimal price was above the means of Theophilus and the value of the property is 3 times the amount that would appear on the deeds – the said Thomas continued to use the entire part of the property which was supposed to be conveyed by deeds She wishes the court to answer her questions and concerns - was the land actually to have been held for any children of Thomas or for his widow's maintance, who was a witness to any payments and where did Theophilus get the money if he indeed pay A Supplementary Inventory of the Estate of Thomas Edwards Deceased February 8, 1817 A list of accounts charged on said Books at the time of his death NOTE: there are several columns, the first has numbers and is assumed to be the amount of dollars, the 2nd one cents and the third one with one of two words Desperate or Spirable – there are a couple of places with an additional note Gabril Hanneday, 5, Desperate William Edwards, 5, Desperate minor Daniel Turnage, 5, Desperate Theop. Edwards, 10, Spirable Henry Westbrook, 5, Spirable George Whyte, 14, 11, Desperate Nathan Lasitter, 5, Spirable Isaac Edwards, 5, Spirable Thomas Edwards, Jr, 5, Spirable Mary Edwards, 5, Spirable Thomas Price, 12, Spirable Benja. Sheppard, 5, Spirable Mill Dick (slave), 5, Desperate Benja. May, 10, Spirable Richd. Hodges, 5, Spirable James Turnage, 5, Desperate William Edwards, 5, Desperate minor Shade Conner, 5, Desperate Seth Tison s of ??, 5, Spirable Benja. Edwards, 5, Desperate Noah Bemond, 10, Spirable Thomas Reaves, 5, Spirable Benja. Hardy, 10, Spirable Auther Cunningham, 5, spirable Phillip Walston, 5, Spirable $161.11 Amount brought over $161.11 Shad.k Dixon, 5 Spirable John Sugg, 5, Spirable Needham Ward, 5, Spirable William Churchwell, 5, Spirable Humphrey Jones, 5, Desperate Fountain Ward, 5, Spirable James Hooker, 5, Spirable William Edwards, 5, Desperate minor Moses Faircloth, 5, Spirable John Taylor Esq, 3, 90, Desperate Demcey Baker Senr, 4, 45, Desperate Benja. War (sic), 2. 50, Desperate Christerfer Linch, 4, 72, Desperate Bryant Lane, 9, 88??, Spirable John Downing, blank, 40, Spirable William Hollowell, 3, Spirable Moses Westbrook, 5, 33, Spirable West Williams, 2, 75, Spirable Herrod Barrow, dec, 6, 55, Spirable Joseph Rasbury, 5, Spirable Hardy Smith, 6, 25, Spirable Isaac Brand, 7 ,50, Spirable Francis Rasbury, 7, 88 ???, Spirable Isham Lane, 88, Spirable Barbery Fort, 1, 60, Spirable James G. Sherrard, 2, Spirable Charles Carr 8 ??, 21, Spirable James Jones, 26, 40, spirable $322.43 Amount brought forth $322.43 Thomas Hughes, 21, 85, Spirable Willie. I. ??? Stanton, 22, 20, Spirable William Faircloth (on settlement), 7, 45, Spirable Ditto John & Moses Faircloth, 50, Spirable $423.93 James G. Sheppard, Adm A true copy, 10??? January, 1825, Wm. Williams ______________________________________________________________________ Copyright. 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