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Source
- Augusta County Chancery Court – Case 1817-104 Heirs of David Hays vs. Heirs of John Hays
Related
Person:David Hays (1)
Text
'The following with slight reformatting to improve readability
BILL OF COMPLAINT:
To the Honorable John Brown Chancellor of the Western District of Virginia.
Humbly complaining sheweth unto your Honor your orator David Orestes King Hays and Mary Hays infants under the age of twenty one years by Robert Montgomery their grandfather and next friend that your orator and oratrix are the children of David Hays son of Andrew Hays the latter of whom departed this life about the month of March in the year 1786 in the County of Rockbridge having first duly made his Last Will and Testament a certified copy of which marked A is herewith exhibited and prays to be taken(?) as part of this Bill -- probate was granted to the Executors therein named but your orator and oratrix have been informed that John Hays was the only acting Executor and that all the concerns of the estate were exclusively managed by him.
Sometime after the death of the said Andrew Hays an inventory was taken of his personal estate a copy of which marked B is herewith exhibited but no sale was ever made of the (same?) the said John Hays having taken it as his own. Shortly after the death of the Testator about the year 1795 your orator’s and oratrix’s father went to live with his brother Joseph Hays at Abingdon in the County of Washington and continued to reside there until about the year 1804 when he removed to Nashville in the State of Tennessee at which place he died intestate and without any kind of property about the year 1806 administration had been granted.
Your orator and oratrix further shew that their father did not arrive at the age of twenty one years until May 1797 and they have not been able to learn whether he ever adjusted his claim he had under the will to the proceeds of land directed to be sold or to his portion of the negroes. Your orator and oratrix ( can witness? can not say?) they have heard that their father during his life always declared that the said John had not come to an adjustment with him. About the year 1799 your orator’s father was persuaded to execute a Power of Attorney to his brother James Hays to sell the Stone House Plantation in the said will mentioned which was afterward sold to the said John Hays for three thousand Dollars as your orator and oratrix have heard. The Power of Attorney and the Deed of Lease and release are herewith exhibited marked C & D and prayed to be taken as part of this Bill, if these (properties / proportions) becoming due to your orator and oratrix’s father by the said sale from the said John Hays they believe there is still a large sum due but they are unable to say how much. The said John Hays not only took the negroes from the plantations where the Testator directed them to be kept and retained them as his own property but he permitted the affairs of the Estate to be unsettled until about the year 1808 It appears commissioners appointed by the Court of Rockbridge made a (illegible) of which marked E is herewith exhibited and prayed to be taken as part of this Bill.
Against this settlement your orator and oratrix object entirely because it was ex parte, because no vouchers of (?) appear to have been produced, no account is given of the proceeds of Land directed to be sold (?) and charges are made for which the Estate was not liable and your orator and oratrix can not permit any presumption in favor of the current administration of the Estate when so many manifest improprieties appear, and when the settlement was deferred until after death of Joseph and David Hays. Your orator and oratrix further state that the said John Hays also departed this life about the close of the year 1808 having made his Last Will and Testament (a copy of which marked F is herewith exhibited) by which he has [ illegible ] the whole of his estate to the payment of his debts and has left Andrew Hays his son, who with Michael Hays, John Hays and Campbell Hays are his children and devisees and Ann Hays, his widow has since his death died intestate. To the [end?] therefore that the said Executor and devisees may be made defendants to this Bill and that they may severally answer the premises as fully and truly as if the whole [ xxx xxx and interrogated? xxx] that they may discover the negroes and their increase which John Hays took into his possession divisible among the sons of the said (that there in possession of the defendants may be delivered up and compensation made for the [ ? ] ) Andrew Hays and who now is in possession of them, what lands were left by the said Andrew Hays to be sold and the proceeds to be divided among his sons and for what they were sold that an account may be [ directed?] as to all the personal Estate that the [ ? ] due on account of the sale of the Stone House Plantations may be divided and be paid that the real property of the said Andrew Hays may be [ ?] if the personal is insufficient to the payment of what is due to your orator and oratrix and that this court may grant [ ? ] relief as may be consistent with Justice and adapted to this particular case may it please your Honor to grant the [ ? ] of subpoena [ ? ].
ANSWER TO BILL OF COMPLAINT:
The answer of Andrew Hays for himself and for his infant brothers Campbell Hays and John B. Hays their next friend to a Bill of Complaint exhibited against them as the Heirs of John Hays Deceased in the Superior Court of Chancery holden at Staunton by John Montgomery as the next friend of David Orestes King Hays and of Mary Hays Heirs of David Hays Deceased who for answer saith that it appears that John Hays Deceased, in the year 1792 purchased of the said David Hays Deceased his [morety?] of a tract of land commonly called and known by the name of the Stone House Plantation which was willed to him by his father Andrew Hays Senior Deceased for which he was to give the said David four hundred and fifty pound. Two hundred of the pounds of the above were to be paid in October 1795 the balance in two annual payments the half of which sum was to bear interest from October 1793. This contract appears from memorandum in page 52 of John Hays’ ledger it also appears from the name that he is entitled to a further [ ? ] thirty-two pounds twelve shillings and nine pence making in all four hundred eight two pounds twelve and nine pence which is all the claim that the said David Hays Deceased has or ever had against the said John Hays Deceased that in any wise came to the knowledge of this respondent and it appears from the page aforesaid that the said David Hays stood indebted unto the said John Hays one hundred and sixty nine pounds ten shillings and a penny halfpenny for various articles got previous to the year 1798 it appears that on the 20th day of January 1798 he got four negroes of Charles Hays on account of John Hays for which two hundred pounds were given. It appears further from the same page that the said David stood indebted to seven pounds for goods got of John McCroskey on the account of your respondent’s Testator all of which amount to three hundred and seventy nine pounds ten shillings and a halfpenny of which are acknowledged to be [ ] receipt of the said David Hays bearing date the 20th day of January 1798 in the page aforesaid a true copy of the debits and credits of the[ ? ] page and receipt is herewith annexed and marked ‘A’ which your respondent prays may be taken as a part of this
answer which would have a balance of one hundred and six pounds two shillings and eight pence halfpenny due from your respondent’s Testator to the said David Hays. In page eleven of another ledger of the said John Hays Deceased I see him the said David charged with several items to the amount of about ten or twelve pounds and also a charge of one hundred and thirty-one pounds it being his proportion of his father’s Estate. Your respondent understands this item to originate from this circumstance to wit that there was an agreement among the Heirs of Andrew Hays Senior Deceased that there would be no sale of the negroes but that all should contribute his moiety portion towards the payment of the debts of the said Andrew Hays. Your respondent has been informed that there was a sale of the perishable property but not of the negroes mentioned in the appraisement of the said Andrew Hays’ Estate within the recollection of this respondent were all in possession of the Heirs of the said Andrew Hays and continued so until their [ ? ] compelled them to sell them. Your respondent is further informed from pages 93–94 of the said Ledger by an account there rendered and subscribed to by John Hays, James Hays, Charles Hays, Joseph Hays and David Hays who were all heirs and distributees of the said Andrew Hays Deceased that the said John Hays had not only paid the amount of the whole [ ? ] that were originally placed in his hands but that he considerably exceed that sum. It also appears from a settlement that your respondents Testator made with the Court of Rockbridge [ xx xx ] of the Estate Andrew Hays that the said Estate was considerably indebted to your respondent’s Testator from all which it would appear that the complainants as the Heirs of David Hays have no just claim against your respondents as the heirs and representatives of John Hays Deceased but on the contrary that they are to be considerably in arrears to your respondents. This respondent has frequently heard his Testator that all the heirs and distributees of Andrew Hays were considerable indebted to him except Charles Hays and it is somewhat strange that David Hays who was always in very pinched circumstances and who as your respondent has been informed died insolvent would not have called for his money [ ? ] during this time. Your respondent’s Testator could have very easily paid him if their Dad[?] any thing due. Your respondent having now answered as much of the Bill as is material that he should answer prays that he may be dismissed with his costs. – Andrew Hays
This 19th day of June 1811 Andrew Hays made oath before me a Justice of the Peace for the County of Rockbridge that the above answer is true so far as he [ ? ] of his own knowledge and from the information of others he believes to be true. [ name illegible]
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