The petition to the will made by Martha McNeill and others to Judge Farquhar Bethune, filed November 30, 1844.
(From: Papers concerning the will of Zephaniah
Kingsley, 1844, 1846,
Series M87-
20)
Page 12
bequest or otherwise under the said instrument of writing, so
called and pretended to be the Last will and Testament
of the said Zephaniah Kingsley decd. as aforesaid
And that the said George Kingsley was and is for the
same cause, and because he is and was a slave as
aforesaid Equally incapable of taking upon himself
the office of, or being made or appointed Executor of
any Last will and testament or of acting as Executor
thereof in this Territory
And your Petitioners further shew unto your Honor
that for the reasons above state and set forth the said instrument
of writing so called and pretended to be the Last Will and
Testament of the said Zephaniah Kingsley deceased is entirely
null and void and that no probate thereof should have
been made allowed, or taken, and that no letters
Testamentary should have been granted or issued thereon
And that the said Kingsley B Gibbs and Benjamin A
Putnam should not nor should either of them have been
permitted to take or have taken upon himself the Executor
of the said instrument of writing as the Last Will and Testament
of the said Zephaniah Kingsley deceased, or otherwise.
And your petitioners further shew unto your Honor
that the said Zephaniah Kingsley by the said instrument
of writing so by him called his Last will and testament as
aforesaid appointed (so far as he thereby could appoint)
the said Kingsley B Gibbs and Benjamin A Putnam and
George Kingsley Guardian of his (the said Zephaniah
Kingsley’s) infant natural children [amongst?] which he by
the said instrument of writing acknowledges all those of Flora
H. Kingsley of Camp New Hope, and also Sarah Murphy’s
mulatto child, Micanopy then and (at the time of the Execution
of the said instrument of writing) in Hayti (aforesaid)
But your petitioners believe and alledge that all of
the said infant natural children are mulattoes and slaves;
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