Greene County, NC – Speight & Wife vs Scarborough, 1855 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NC SUPREME COURT CASE #4978 – SPEIGHT & WIFE vs SCARBOROUGH et all June 1855 – Greene County NOTE: This Case was not reported as it was settled before it went to the Court which means it is not in NC Reports. Case Number provided by Julia Moseley Combs. See Will on Greene County Archives. Joshua Speight and Ann Maria his wife Vs Ann Scarborough, Owen W. Jones & wife, William Murphy & wife, Jno? Scarborough, Ormond Harper Administrator for Ann Scarborough Joshua S. Speight and wife Ann Maria, administrators of Samuel R. Pope and also of Isabella Frances Pope dec – by virtue of a clause contained in the Will of John Harper, dec they the said complainants are entitled to Ό of certain Negro slaves viz one Negro woman named Mary and two Negro men named Allen and west upon the death of Ann Scarborough and said Negroes are now in the possession of said Ann Scarborough. The complainants wish to make known to Ira Scarborough to refrain from aiding and abetting the said Ann Scarborough of disposing of the said slaves at sale or otherwise and not to take them out of the state. 22 Dec 1851 Richard N. Forbes C & CE Same Bill of Complaint against William Murphrey and his wife Louisiana and against Owen W. Jones and his wife Jane Bond of Joshua Speight and wife Ann Maria – Speight and wife adm of Samuel R. Pope and also of Isabella Frances Pope and Ward Smith J. ? Speight, David G. W. Ward, and James P. Speight – bound to Ann Scarborough, Owen W. Jones & wife Jane, William Murphrie & wife Louisana, and Ira Scarborough bond in the amount of $1000 22 Dec 1851 Ann Scarborough was the admr of William H. Pope dec and Ormond Harper adm of Daniel Scarborough Joshua & wife state that John Harper died in Greene Co and his Will was proved Nov. Term 1827 – John Harper and Ormond Harper were executors and they took possession of the estate, paid the debts and legacies in the Will especially to the children and widow. The 5th Clause of the Will bequeathed certain Negro slaves, Mary & Tony to Ann Pope his daughter for her life and after her death to her children. The children of the said Ann at the death of John Harper were Samuel R. Pope, Jane, wife of Owen W. Jones and Louisiana wife of William Murphey. William H. Pope was living at the time of the death of Harper but after his death the widow Ann intermarried with David Scarborough and had issue by him, Ira Scarborough. Ann was the adm of the estate of William H. Pope. Ann’s children were entitled to 1/5 part of the Harper slaves after her death. Ann is now 60 years old, is now a widow and she will have no further children. After the death of John Harper, his executors put the slaves in the possession of Ann Pope, then a widow and she re-married Scarborough about 1835. Slaves were Tony who has since died and Mary who had two children West and Allen. Samuel R. Pope died intestate leaving a widow, Ann Marie, and Isabella Frances Pope his only child. The widow was adm. And paid his debts and divided the residue between his distributes. About two months after the death of Samuel, his daughter died as an infant. Ann Marie, the widow, then re-married Joshua Speight. They content to be entitled to a undivided 1/4 part of slaves at the death of Ann Scarborough. Ann Scarborough and the other heirs in Sept 1851 tried to sell the slaves to Edwin G. Speight who was going to remove them from the State to remove them beyond the reach of the plaintiffs. Owen Jones offered to sd Joshua Speight a price for his interest in the slaves – price was below the value – Jones threatened if Speight would not agree that the slaves might disappear leaving Ann insolvent & she already was on slender terms. Said Ann was influenced by her natural affection of the other defendants, her children, and she determined to deprive the orators of their estate by removing them from the State. The orators want security & require the slaves to stay in the State. The defendants answered questions – most of the information they gave is already covered above so below is only additional information 1. Harper Will to court Nov (sic) Term 1827 2. Son who died was William Hooker Pope who d 27 Sept 1830 3. They stated that Hugh P. Harper & Ormond Harper administered the estate of David Scarborough – Ormond Harper is still alive 4. Samuel Pope’s estate was administered in Pitt Co and they lived in Pitt Co 5. Joshua Speight and Ann Maria married in 1848 6. Ann Scarborough denied she was in collusion with other heirs 7. In 1851, Edwin G. Speight was the owner of the father of the slave West and he wanted to buy West because of his father. Ann told Speight she only had a life estate & if the other heirs would agree, she would sell Mary & her children to Speight – Owen W. Jones was guardian to Ira Scarborough – Ann insisted the slaves also had to be willing to be sold – Edwin Speight has since left the State 8. A offer of $250 was made to Joshua Speight for his share – all the slaves valued at about $1800 9. Owen Jones’s wife called Mary J.– earlier she was called Jane. DEPOSITIONS (repeated information not copied) 1. James Williams - 1 Oct 1853 – Edwin G. Speight left State in Sept or Oct 1851 – said Owen told him if his wife died before her mother, he, Owen, would not consider himself entitled to any portion of the slaves 2. William A. Darden & Rufus C. D. Beaman – 7 April 1853 – Darden said Edwin Speight asked him to purchase slaves but Speight wanted a good title. Stated until Jan 1853 he lived 2 or 3 miles from Ann Scarborough or 15 years. Beaman stated in the winter of 1847 & 1848 he boarded with Ichabod Moore the father of Jane (sic) wife of Joshua Speight and he heard conversations between Jane (sic) & Ann Scarborough regarding the slaves – Jane was a bit irritated with Ann – Beaman did not think Ann had any interest in the slaves 3. Icabod Moore and Martha Ann Moore – 26 Sep 1853 – they testified in Greenville before Burton G. Albritton – Icabod stated he was 61 years old, a farmer & a minister – said Ann said that on 8 April 1848 Ann’s son, Samuel, had no right to the slaves – only the children alive when she died could inherit – said his daughter Ann Maria Jane md Samuel Pope and then Joshua Speight. Martha Ann Moore testified she was the sister of Ann Maria Jane. 4. Edwin G. Speight – 19 Sept 1853 – stated before Sept 1851 he resided in Greene Co and offered to buy the Negroes 5. Basset Sikes – deposition taken at Speight’s Bridge on 24 April 1853 by William A. Darden – he advised not to sell the slaves Copy of Will of John Harper of Greene Co attached to the case. __________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Martha Mewborn Marble ___________________________________________________________________