Greene County, NC - James Sutton & Wife v. Edwards, 1848 EDWARDS-SUTTON Supreme Court Cases, Box 181: Case #4602, Sutton & Wife vs Edwards et al, Dec. 1848; Box 204; Case No #5120 John Sutton & Wife vs Cullen Edwards, Dec.1848 Bill of Complaint of John Sutton & Polly his wife of the County of Lenoir. Thomas Edwards of Co. of Greene died intestate leaving a valuable Estate lying in said County which descended to the children & heirs of said Thomas, viz, Your complainant POLLY, THEOPHILUS EDWARDS, CULLEN EDWARDS, FRANCIS EDWARDS, THOMAS EDWARDS, NATHAN EDWARDS, ROSA EDWARDS & WILLIAM T. EDWARDS, the said Wm T. Edwards being the heir of William, who was a child of the sd. Thomas; the said Theophilus died intestate & without issue before the partition herein after mentioned. After the partition of said Estate, William T. Edwards also died intestate & without issue, leaving EADY, his mother, surviving him, & afterwards WILLIAM H. CUNNINGHAM of Greene Co. intermarried with the said EADY, & they commuted a life estate interest in Lot No. 3, which was allotted to WILLIAM, father of the said Wm T. Edwards, into an estate in fee, for fifty acres thereof, by a joint deed from those claiming in remainder, & which the said Wm. H. Cunningham still holds. At the 1823 Term of Ct of Pleas & Quarter Sessions of sd County, a petition was filed by or on behalf of said heirs. Petition was granted. John Scarborough, Jefse Cunningham, Blaney Harper, Josiah Sugg, Junr. & Wm. Pope were to make the partition to said heirs of Thomas Edwards, decd. They divided into 7 shares. Your complainant POLLY was allotted No. 7. Lot No. 1 = Francis Edwards. Lot No. 2 = Thomas Edwards. Lot No. 5 to Cullen Edwards, & Lots No. 1 & 2 to Cullen Edwards.... & Lot No. 5 the share of Cullen Edwards conveyed to JOHN SUGG, & your orators charge that Cullen & John Sugg, had notice that their shares were charged.... with said sums of money to be paid to your Orators share .........your Orators are advised the said assessments are a legal charge upon the said lots. Francis, Thomas, & Cullen have conveyed their shares under the sd. partition, & also consented, with the other heirs by which a life estate in Lot No. 3 was commuted into an estate in fee, for 50 acres to Wm. H. Cunningham, as herein before stated. Orators say that John Sutton & Polly Edwards intermd., the said Polly being then underage, & being apprized of their rights under the sd. partition, they applied to Francis, Thomas & Cullen & to John Sugg and requested them to pay to your orators the sd. sums upon the shares which had been allotted to them, with which request they refused to comply. ROSA EDWARDS is now the wife of WILLIAM E. HARDEE & they are made parties to this Bill. The question: Whether the shares No. 1, 2 & 5 were not charged with assessments to be paid to No. 7. JOHN SUTTON made oath the matters set fourth, as of his knowledge, are true. Signed John Sutton. Sworn 7th April 1845. Chas S. Edwards C.M. E. John Sutton & Polly his wife vs Cullen Edwards & Others. Copy of Bill to Theophilus Edwards who is not to be found in County. Greene County, NC, ...... Know that we, John Sutton, William Sutton & John M. Patrick are bound unto Cullen Edwards, Theophilus Edwards, Francis Edwards, Thomas Edwards, Nathan Edwards, William E. Hardee & Rosa his wife, William H. Cunningham & Eady his wife, & John Sugg------Signed 8 March 1845 Theophilus Edwards, one of the heirs, died intestate & without issue. The heirs of Thomas Edwards, decd, were all minors at the time of partition of land. The defendants say that John Sutton md. POLLY sometime in 182-. they do not admit that said Polly was at the time of marriage, underage, but say that she had been previously married, & was, they believe, of full age when she md. John Sutton, & at May Term 1826 for Greene, John Sutton was app'ted guardian of defendants Cullen, Nathan, Thomas, Franklin & Rosa, & took into his custody & possession all the real & personal estate, rented out their lands, hired out their negroes & received the rents, profits, & hires thereof, for several years, & until they respectively attained the age of 21; & that he received considerable sums of money from the estate of their father and brother Theophilus, on their account. And during their minority, the Complainant was at little or no expense on account of the defendants, as he gave them but little and very limited education, clothes them in a very ordinary manner, & required them to labor for their support & maintenance. That when Cullen arrived at 21, having no personal knowledge of the share intended to be allotted to him, he was settled by John (Sutton) who was his guardian, on No. 1, as being the one allotted to him, & that he immediately commenced making improvements thereon. When Franklin arrived at age, & was about to settle on his share, it was then ascertained that the defendant had taken possession of the lot drawn by Franklin/ Francis instead of Lot No. 5 which had been drawn by him.....Lot no. 5 had been allotted to Cullen which mistake was caused by neglect of said John Sutton...........Cullen purchased the share of said Franklin/Francis, & that John Sutton said nothing of his having changed...the partition.... & Cullen was entirely ignorant of the existence of any sucy lien or charge ..........and so forth. The defendants also said the Complainants, so they have been informed, did about the 28th of December 1826 convey all their interest in the said lands, or in the share allotted to them, to one ISAAC EDWARDS....... Defendants signed 7 Oct. 1845. Cullen Edwards was the only one who signed his name. Others used their mark. Depositions Taken: Henry Miller, Esqr.. He says letters of adm. were granted to him on estate of Thomas Edwards. Granted to him & to Charles Edwards. He also says the estate was in debt; that Thos. purchased a plantation a short time before his death, & left his estate "a good deal insolvent." He paid nine dollars to each heir. He paid it to John Sutton, guardian to the 5 minor heirs. He said Polly Harper widow of Jesse Harper was the oldest child of Thomas Edwards & that she then md John Sutton. Deposition of Mr. Isaac Edwards: He replies that he did purchase from John Sutton & wife the lot allotted to her in the partition of the lands of Thomas Edwards, decd & that he paid $420. Deposition of William Churchill. He and Nathan Edwards rented jointly for one year the cleared lands on Lot No. 1 & 2 of Thos. Edwards, decd, from John Sutton, the guardian of the minor heirs, at the price of $50. That Nathan Edwards gave his note for the rentage & that he (Churchill) was his surety. The lands continued to be rented until the minors came of age. He also said that Lot No. 5, allotted to Cullen Edwards, was never in the possession of Cullen. He values annual worth of rent at $50. Sworn 17 Dec. 1846. ....death of Thomas Edwards happened in 1822. Slaves belonging to estate, but number not recollected, that were hired out yearly. Nathan Edwards arrived at lawful age about 1834 or 1835. Cullen Edwards "was a strong healthy boy aged about 11 yrs at death of father, & was able to work his way free from cost to anyone, & that he did labor." Sworn 29 Jan. 1848, Wm. Churchill. Partition of lands 10 Feb. 1824. Lot 1, Francis Edwards Lot 2, Thomas Edwards Lot 3, William F. Edwards Lot 4, Rosey Edwards Lot 5, Cullen Edwards Lot 6, Nathan Edwards Lot 7, lies on Fort Run, Elizabeth Altmans corner...Nancy Parkses line... All lots have brief description given. Deposition of Bryant Sanders. Deposition of John Sugg, Junr. Deposition of Henry Miller. He was asked age of Mrs. Mary Sutton, wife of John. He replied that handwriting of her father bears date 19 Jany 1803. He also said he wrote a will for her in fall or autumn of 1823. Deposition of William Pope, admr. of Theophilus Edwards, decd, son of Thos. Edwards. End of Case. Notes: Thomas Edwards & wife Rosey Hooker, [d/ Wm Hooker & wife Laney Harper,] were parents of the following children: Polly Edwards m. John Sutton of Lenoir Co. [son of William and Sarah Arendell] Cullen Edwards m. Holland ______ Francis/Franklin m. Ava Sugg Rosa Ellen Edwards m. William Edwards Hardy Nathan Edwards m. (1) Hannah Churchill (2)Sarah Ann Dixon ______________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Ruth Fentress - ruthbf@erols.com ______________________________________________________________________