Enslaved People Named: Mary, Clarissa, Lucy, Ambrose, Humphrey
Parties to the Case: Edward Footman, administrator of Dr. Richard H. Footman vs. creditors
Court Session: 1832-1833
Summary: Edward Footman as administrator for Dr. Richard H. Footman answered suits by creditors by acknowledging that Footman’s unpaid debts. He named Clarissa, Lucy, and Mary as having been used as collateral on one of these debts, and stated they had been sold at auction in Chatham County on April 3. The jury ruled against him, and stated that he had enslaved people Ambrose and Humphrey in his possession as part of the estate.
On March 26, 1832, Edward Footman, administrator for the estate of Dr. Richard H. Footman, responded to a lawsuit in Liberty County Superior Court by Chichester and Scranton by acknowledging that Richard H. Footman had mortgaged to Thomas Butler on May 29, 1829, for $950 “three negroes, to wit, Mary, Clarissa and Lucy and her child.” He also acknowledged that Footman had renewed the mortgage “from time to time” and that the promissory note was unpaid at the time of his death. However, he said, when the note became payable at Footman’s death, he assigned the debt to Robert Habersham, who had foreclosed on the mortgage and had “caused the said negroes to be levied on by the Sheriff of Chatham County to satisfy the same; and that the same were so levied on by the said Sheriff, and sold, according to law, on the first Turesday in April instant, for the sum of one thousand and ninety dollars.” Edward Footman also enumerated other debts owed by Richard H. Footman (with no enslaved people being named), and argued that the estate only had $5 available to it and thus could not pay the amount requested by Chichester and Scranton.
The jury found for the plaintiff in the sum of $92.50 with interest on December 5, 1832. Footman apparently appealed, and on December 5, 1833, the jury repeated the verdict, adding that it was to be paid out of assets in the hands of Edward Footman after payment of any debts with superior claim and “pro rata with those of equal dignity.” They added, “We find that there is in the hands of the said administrator to be administered assets as follows: the sum of $560.64 in money and two negro slaves, Ambrose & HUmphrey.”
Source: Superior Court Record Book (1833-1840), Vol. 4, Liberty County, Georgia, page 18-39 database with images, “Liberty County Superior Court Proceedings, 1833-1842,” part 1 of 2 in “Liberty County Superior Court Proceedings 1833-1855,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H3-QRCL : accessed 19 June 2024), Family History Library Film 008628085, image 16-26 of 658.