Upson County GaArchives Court.....Bunkley, Macharine 1854 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Martin christinesoffemartin@hotmail.com June 13, 2005, 3:06 pm Source: Loose Papers - Thomaston Archives Written: 1854 Caroline W. Bunkley, of Pike County, by her guardian Isaac M. Brown vs Terrel Barkesdale, Stephen Harvey, & others, heirs at law of Macharine Bunkley, dec'd, appeal from Upson Superior Court to Ga. Supreme Court (Appealed from Upson Superior Court, May Term, 1854) (Page numbers refer to printed transcript provided to the Georgia Supreme Court) Caroline Bunkley's petition says she lives in Pike County; that she is daughter of George W. Bunkley, who was the son of a brother, by whole blood, of John Bunkley; that George W. Bunkley was taken by John and Macharine Bubkley in their lifetime to their house to be raised from 8 years old until he married. Macharine Bunkley's will, twentieth clause, says: "I will as part of my funeral expenses, that my executor furnish, at my estate's expense, to each and all of my negroes, a suit of clothes, black, and pocket money, not exceeding thirty dollars nor less than five dollars, the varying sums to be regulated by the discretion of my executor" Brief of the oral testimony: Edward Dowdie [p. 63]: was Mrs. Bunkley's overseer from January until her death in February, "lived two hundred yards or a little over from the [main] house." Went to see her "as often as three times myself." She was sick. "Knows once the negroes had to help her to bed – she was sitting by the fire and called a negro woman in the house to help her to bed, and she did so. I thought her mind then pretty good... Once she told me and my wife to hitch up the mules and take all the negroes to meeting. I told her that there was no meeting – she stood me down there was, and at length I satisfied her there was none... I thought from this she was not in her right mind at times. Benjamin D. Lary: [p. 71]Was the overseer for the Bunkleys, and lived in the house, in 1838, and from September 1848 until April 1849. [p. 72] "- have heard the old lady speak of a girl named Peggy, that lived with her. She often mentioned her name. Sometimes the little negroes would come in of nights and she would ask them if they had a fat possum for her, and she would in a playful way, say to them come lets go a possum hunting... Mrs. B. had a woman named fanny, and her husband's name was Dave: heard her say the Dr. [James Anderson] had requested her to buy Fanny, and she said she didn't know whether to buy her or not, as she had too many women already, but said, she reckoned she must buy her to get her there with Dave. She had a woman named Emily – has heard her tell Dr. A. there one day, he had had bad luck with his negroes, one of Emily's children was dead – Dr. A. came the day the child was buried... Recollect she got mad with Emily – told her she should go to Dr. Anderson's -" Interrogatories: William Rushkin: [p. 77] "The last time he went to see Macharine Bunkley... was inNovember 1849. Mrs. Bunkley raised a conversation with James Anderson about purchasing a negro girl, the wife of one of Macharine Bunkley's negro boys. She stated that she wished to purchase the girl because the boy troubled her about going to see his wife, and she told Anderson if he would aid her in buying the girl, that at her death, he might have the girl." Isaac Brown: [p. 81] "...Macharine Bunkley remarked to witness, that she should not have purchased the negro woman, but on account of keeping her with her husband. When she got the pocket book to get her money she turned to James Anderson and said, I shall not want this negro woman long, and when I am done with her you may have her." Thomas Anderson [brother of Dr. James Anderson]: [p. 81] "...he sold Macharine Bunkley a negro woman named Fanny, who was about 27 years old, when so sold; the sale was made christmas, 1849, or about that time. The price was $700, and he sold her no other negro... Macharine Bunkley assigned as a reason for purchasing said negro, that if she did not purchase her, that Fanny's husband, Dave, would frequently be off when she wanted him at home. She also then said, that she had plenty of negroes without Fanny, and would not have purchased her but for the reason mentioned." Explains he had held Fanny in trust for his sister Armilia Anderson, under the will of his father; the negro to go to her surviving brothers and sisters if she (Armilia) died. She did die. The surviving brothers and sisters were himself, James Anderson, Eliza Paschal, and Mary Harris (in Mississippi). "...it occurred to him, that as the negro was to be sold, and Mrs. Bunkley owned her husband, it was proper to sell her the negro woman." He consulted with the other heirs whether "to sell publicly or privately." Thomas Anderson and James Anderson went together to Mrs. Bunkley; James suggested to her "having someone to buy said negro at public sale; she declined, saying she would buy her privately, if she bought her at all." Matilda Towns: [p. 83] "...as long as she was able to be up, she would get up at all hours of the night, and walk about the room, and talking as though she was talking to some person with her, while she was alone – some times she would call upon her deceased husband and speak as though she was talking with him. She frequently called some person by the name of Peggy, and would talk as though she was conversing with her. The witness knew no such person, and asked Mrs. Bunkley who Peggy was and Mrs. Bunkley said, she was dressed very well – sometimes in calico and sometimes in [p. 84] silk; that she was good looking. This was all witness could get out of her about Peggy. She would frequently call upon the negroes to get the horses ready and carry her to Cherokee, and say that she was tired of that place... She would frequently call upon some one to get the dogs, and go with her a possum hunting." Macharine Bunkley (b. Aug 28, 1786 – d. Feb 27, 1850) Epitaph on marble stella, private graveyard 1 mile west of The Rock: (partial) "She was true to her friends and highly prized any act of kindness; nor would she be surpassed in benefits conferred, always cheerfully reciprocating any good office. Being childless, she was much attached to her slaves, most of whom she had reared. She acted toward them as a friend and protectress; and would gladly have liberated them from servitude could she have done it under sanction of the laws of the land." Member of the Methodist church "many years." The Bible was the Book she read the most. From records of Upson Superior Court: Macharine Bunkley's estate, estimated to be worth $100-120,000, was not settled for 8 years – long enough for two of the eleven lawyers involved to die. Even the lawyer fees were a matter of dispute, decided by the court in 1858. Total lawyer fees were $21,550. Note: I had selected the extracts above mainly for content concerning slaves and slavery. The complete transcript may contain other items of interest, but I do not have a complete transcript. A printed copy of the complete transcript, about 100 pages long, is among the loose papers of Upson Superior Court, in the Thomason-Upson Archives. There is probably a duplicate printed copy in the Georgia State Archives. Alternately, the complete case is recorded in Upson Superior Court Writ Book I, pp. 529-571. Note: John Bunkley is in the records of Upson County at least as far back as 1827. File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ga/upson/court/bunkley558wl.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb