TALIAFERRO COUNTY, GA - COURT Edwards, Etheldred vs Thomas Edwards  1849

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Rhoda Fone  RhodaFone@aol.com

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:17:22 EST

Re: Etheldred Edwards vs. Thomas Edwards
 
The material below was sent to me by Mary Sue
Kamen  in 1995, author unknown, which I later
passed along to Myra Maxwell and  Terri Saturday
in 2002.  If anyone knows the identity of the
author, please  let me know so that I may give
proper credit to the person who researched and
wrote this wonderful genealogical piece.

-----BEGIN QUOTE-----

ETHELDRED EDWARDS VS. THOMAS EDWARDS. There is a
tradition in the Thomas  Edwards family that
Etheldred was stern and forbidding, and something
of a  character.  This image probably grew out of
the suit between the two  brothers over the estate
of their sister, Salle (Edwards) Davis.

As far as the Thomas Edwards family was concerned,
relationship with Etheldred's family continued to
be pleasant, even after the famous suit, for in
the 1850's, Thomas' daughter Rebecca, then living
in Pike County, Alabama, occasionally visited
Bird, Edwards and Rhodes cousins in Georgia.  Even
in  1961, more than 100 years later, there is fond
talk of the beautiful Zennie  Edwards, daughter of
Etheldred, who was visited by her cousin Rebecca
from  Alabama.

On August 4, 1849, a bill of discovery and relief
was filed in the Superior Court of Taliaferro
County, John T. Bristow, Clerk, by Etheldred.
This  bill set forth that Etheldred and Thomas
Edwards were the "only brothers of  Salle Davis
and the only person entitled to distribution of
her estate upon  failure of the legacy to the
children of her sister Elizabeth Dunn."  "Only
brothers" may indicate that Micajah, born 1762 and
Jesse, born 1766, were dead  by 1849 or it may
mean that Etheldred and Thomas were the "only
brothers" in Georgia.

The Etheldred Edwards vs. Thomas Edwards suit was
a family controversy over property.  Etheldred
charged that Thomas, as executor of Salle's
estate,  had handled "divers tracts of land, the
situation and quality of which are unknown unto
your Orator," slaves, promissory notes and
personal property  without making proper inventory
or report; also that Thomas had been negligent  in
trying to locate the children of Elizabeth Dunn in
that he did not "cause advertisements of the
legacy of said children to be run in the
newspapers of the country."  Stephens and Bird
represented Etheldred at court; this was
Alexander H. Stephens and (probably) a member of
the Bird family into which  Etheldred's daughters
were married.

The settlement of this controversy as of September
1, 1849, was in the handwriting of Alexander H.
Stephens, then a young lawyer in Taliaferro County
but later to be Vice President of the Confederacy,
known and loved by thousands as Little Aleck."

Terms of settlement were as follows:   (1) slaves
left by Salle  and "their increase" in the 22
years since her death were to be divided by an
appraisal committee into two even groups and
Etheldred and Thomas were to draw  for groups by
lot; and (2) Thomas was to sell land owned by
Salle Davis in  Wilkinson County, Georgia, and
proceeds were to be divided equally between the
two brothers.

Value of these nine slaves in 1849 was $3,200.
There were two adults, Everett age 40 and Chloe
between 35 and 40 years; and their seven
children. Thomas drew: (1) Chloe the mother; (2)
Stephen age 13; (3)  Martha age 8 and a deaf mute;
(4) Dolly age 3; and (5) Eli age 2.   Etheldred
drew: (1) Everett the father; (2) James age 11;
(3) Catherine age 6  and (4) Olivia age four.

James, age 11, had been a particular cause for
contention.  According  to Etheldred, James had
already "been taken away to Alabama" presumably by
Thomas' sons, John and Benjamin, who were in
Talladega County, Alabama, by  1849.

A specific term of the settlement was that if
James were drawn by Etheldred and the brothers
could not agree to a trade in relation to him, "he
is to be delivered to said Etheldred Edwards by
the first of January next unless he should die
before that time.

Alabama was a long way off.  One wonders if
Etheldred ever reclaimed  James, also why one
small, 11 year old Negro was so important in the
estate settlement.

-----END QUOTE------

ADDENDUM:
"Rem Edwards was kind enough to identify the
unknown author as Mrs. Harriet Dickson Reynolds of
Houston Texas who wrote it in 1967.  It is an
excerpt from her 172 page long document titled
"Thomas Edwards, 1783-1853 of North Carolina,
Georgia, and Alabama and Some of His Descentants."