Dunton et Uxr vs Steel - 9 March 1735 - Transcribed by Gail M. Walczyk
Spelling remains the same.
Dunton & uxr vs . . . In Caner Steel
filed the 9th March 1735 Teste T. C. C. C. April time to Answer May Orderd to be Sold Teste T. C. C. C.
To the Worshipful the Justices of this County of Northton in a Court of Chancery Sitting
Humbly complaining Show unto your worships your Orator & Oratrix Elias Dunton of the County Afd Planter & Abigal his wife That whereas ffranis Steel late of the afd County Decd by his last Will & Testmt bearing date the 30th day of March Anno Dom 1720 gave all his Estate to his wife & two children & the Child in her Bolly unborn to be equally divided between those who his son Daniel shoud raise to lawful age or as soon as might be after his wife shoud marry again which shoud first happen And your Orator & Oratrix further show unto your Worships that [-----] four years after the Death of the sd ffrancis Steel his Widow Hope Steel intermarryed with one Benajmin Hillard who a short time afterh the marriage petitioned the Court of this county afd for a Division of the Estate of sd ffrancis according to the Will afsd whereupon the Court appointed persons to divid the said Estate accordingly And your Orator & oratrix further show your worhships that [-----] short time afterward Daniel Steel one of the Children of the sd ffrancis & Hope dyed in his Infancy intestate whereby a Negro Boy named Will wch Boy (by the Division of his father's Estate appointed to him) desented to his two sisters (vizt) your Oratrix & Mary Steel yet an Infant who has kept Negro in her possession But now so it is may it please your Worships the said Mary intending to defraud & injure you Orator & Oratrix doth altogether refuse to suffer them as yet to have the possession or any Service of the sd Negro pretending she is an Infant & not compellable thereto during her time of her Infancy In under consideration whereof & for this and the sd Mary Steel may on her corporal Oath in this Court true perfect [-----] make to all & singular the matters herein before charged or contained as if the [-----] were here again repeated & interrogated And that the Negro may be Sold & the money arising on the Sale may be equally divided between your Orator & Oratrix & the sd Mary Steel and that your Orator & Oratrix may be relieved in the persuits according to Equity & good Consience may it please your Worships to grant unto your Orator & Oratrix his Majties Writ of Subpena directed to the sd Mary Steel thereby commanding her at a certain day & under a certain [-----] therein to be [-----] to be & appear before your Worships in this Court [-----] there to augue the premise And to stand to & abide such further Order & Dower therin as to your Worships shall [-----] & agreeable to Equity & good Conseince
Northampton county Ss These are in his Majties Name to Will and require you to Summons Mary Steel to make her personal Appearance before his Majties Justices of the peace for this County in Chancery at the next Court to be had for the said County then, & there, to answer the Complaint of Elias Dunton & abigal his Wife against her Exhibited and this the said Mary Steel is no wise to omit on the pain of One hundred pounds Sterling Dated at the Clerks Office the fifteenth day of March 1735 Tho: Cable Cl Cur. To the Sherif of Northampton County
Th answer of Mary Steel an Infant by Daniel Godwin her Guardian to the Bill of Complaint of Elias Dunton & Abigail his wife The Said Deft Mary by her Said Guardian, both now & at all ties hereafter Saving & retrieving to her [-----] all benefit for the Several in Suffienences imperfections & uncertainty therein contained, for Answer thereto or So much thereof as she is advised is material the answers & Says & Confesses that Francis Steel about the time in the Bill mentioned made his will & therein devised his Estate as the & thereon devised his Estate as the Complaints have alledged, that the Same was persons by order of Court for that purpose appointed divided in Such Sort as the Bill Suggests & that in that Division A negroe Boy named Will then was allotted to Daniel the Son of the Said Francis & brother to the female complaint & this Defdt which Said Daniel this Defdt confessed to have dy'd Sometime in the year of our Lord Seventeen hundred & twenty five as this Dept has been informed & believes & this Defdt further Says that at a Court held for this County on the Ninth day of October Anno Domi Seventeen hundred & twenty five the Said Daniel Godwin was appointed by the Said court to take Care of the orphans of the Said Francis Steel & there Estates, & had an order to receive their Estates Accordingly took the Same & among other things the Negro Boy in the Bill mentioned, the Said Boy being then about the age of three or four years old as this Defdt hath been informed & believes to be true that the Said Negro boy by force of that order hath ever Since been in the possession of the Said Godwin, & the Defdt further Says that the Said Godwin Demands a reasonable Satisfaction of her for the raising & bringing up of the Said Negro boy which this Defdt is advised the Said Godwin is Justly entitled to & will recover And this Defdt further Says that she never did nor doth not now GainSay the Sale of the Negro & the moiety of money [-----] on such Sale to be paid to the Complaints after the Said Daniels Reasonable charge for raising the Said Negro deducted or any other Equitable order or Decree herein which this worshipfull Court shall Equitably make in the premises this Defd being an Infant & not capable in Law to Act or doe any thing in the premises unless Her Actings & doings are Confirmed by Decree of this Court, all which matters & things this Defdt is ready to verify & prays to be hence dismissed &c Danl Godwin
Sources:
_____. Northampton County VA Chancery Causes, 1721-1816. Elias Dunton & Wife vs Guardians of Mary Steel 1736-002. Local Government Records Collection, Northampton County Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Accessed 17 Mar. 2009. <http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/local/chancery/index.htm>