Former Slaves Sue James Taylor Estate
The Kentucky State Journal, August 21, 1883, page 1
James Field and another colored person, formerly slaves of Gen. James Taylor,
deceased, have brought suit against the estate for the recovery of some land
near Alexandria, which plaintiffs claim the General bequeathed them. The defense
claims the bequests were conditioned, and that the conditions were not complied
with.
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The Kentucky State Journal, Saturday May 11, 1889, page 3
The case of William Lumpkins, colored, and others against W
H Lape Trustee, came up for hearing in the Chancery Court yesterday. Mr.
Butler Hawkins argued the case for the plaintiff and Col. George Washington for
the defendants after which it was submitted. This is the case where
Lumpkins and others, who were slaves of General Taylor, are suing for 25 acres
of ground each, left to them by the General in his will for their faithful
service, and which they never received.
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The Kentucky State Journal, Tuesday May
14, 1889, page 3
Colored Slaves of General James Taylor, Deceased, Declared Devisees Under His
Will
The now celebrated case of the Lumpkins boys, colored, against the Taylor estate, was yesterday decided by Chancellor J W Menzies in favor of the plaintiff. The case is a very interesting one because it involves many nice questions, which used to arise in the days of slavery and was about as follows: On the same day that Zachary Taylor was elected President of the United States, his kinsman, General James Taylor, of this city, died leaving a will disposing of a very large estate, valued at over a million dollars.
Among the devisees were the Lumpkin boys, then under twenty-five years of age, to whom was devised twenty five acres of land each, upon the condition that they serve his, the testator's children until they became thirty years of age, and in addition to the twenty-five acres of land, each was to become free. Soon after the death of General Taylor his children formally exonerated the plaintiffs from an and all services, yet they stood ready at all times to render them, and did so whenever called upon.
About 1858 Colonel James Taylor, as the executor of his father's estate brought a suit for the construction of the will, and among other things, especially admitted and stated that his father had given these boys twenty-five acres of land each, and he wished the Court to say out of which tract of land it should be given. A very informal judgment was rendered which the Chancellor says did not cut the plaintiffs out, as the defendants now claim. The Chancellor, also says that Colonel Taylor, as executor, held these lands in express trust for the plaintiffs and that length of time could cut no figure in the case, and especially is this so when knowledge of an intention upon the part of the executor to renounce the trust and claim adversely was not brought home to the plaintiffs.
These are some of the legal features of the case, but the
people generally are delighted with the decision, and it is a common expression
on the street that it is nothing more than right that these old servants of the
family whose ancestors aided in accumulating this vast estate should be entitled
to at least this small remuneration, which will amount to $3000. Colonel E
W Hawkins and son, Butler, engineered the case for the plaintiffs, while Colonel
George Washington looked after the defendants' interests.
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The Kentucky State Journal, June 9, 1891,
page 3
Triumphant Slaves, The Court Appeals, Decides an Important Question Against the
Taylor Estate
The affirmance by the Court of Appeals of the judgment of the Campbell Chancery Court in the case of Washington Lumpkins and others, plaintiffs, of this city against the trustee and heirs of the Taylor estate, defendants, is a final determination of this long litigated case, and a triumphant vindication of the cause of justice and right in behalf of those for whose case every fact and circumstance connected with the case "pleaded like angels trumpet-tongued."
On the 6th day of November 1848, General James Taylor died at his homestead adjoining this city, and was at the time o doubt the wealthiest man in the State of Kentucky, leaving a last will and testament by which de devised substantially the whole of his vast estate to his four children and freedom to all of some forty or fifty slaves owned by him at the time of his death, and in addition to their freedom each one of them was specifically devised twenty-five acres of land out of certain tracts in Campbell County, designated by the testator.
These devises of land to his slaves were subject to certain limitations and conditions prescribed in his will, all of which have ceased to have any legal force or effect. None of the former slaves of General Taylor for some unaccountable reason ever made any effort to recover by suit the land that had been given to them by the generosity of their former master except four of them, who in the year 1887, brought the suit just decided, although many of them made frequent demands during his lifetime upon Colonel James Taylor, son of General Taylor and executor of his last will and testament for the land that had been willed them by his father, and also made demands upon the trustee of Colonel Taylor for the land to which they were entitled.
The suit brought by these plaintiffs and former slaves for the recovery of their land has been contested and resisted by the trustees, heirs and beneficiaries of the estate in the most bitter manner, they pleading in defense and for the purpose of defeating these most just and equitable claims, and to which they were plainly entitled under the will of General Taylor, several most unconscionable pleas, namely that the persons who had brought suit were all slaves at the time of the death of the testator, and being under the disability of slavery were therefore incapable under the laws of Kentucky of taking the land which had been given to them.
Also that so much time had elapsed since the right to bring their action for the recovery of this land had first accrued that they were barred and shut out by statute of limitations in such cases provided. And it was further pleaded as a defense in this action why these former slaves should not receive undeniable justice, that in an old case brought by the executor of General Taylor in 1857 in the Campbell Circuit Court, that it had been decided therein that these parties were not entitled to this land or any part of it, although the record in the case referred to plainly showed that these plaintiffs were not and could not have been in contemplation of law parties to that suit, and that no such issue was involved in the case, and the matter relative to this land that plaintiffs were seeking to recover not in any way comprehended or passed upon in the judgment.
It will be great gratification to every lover of right and justice to know that after the expiration of nearly forty-three years the kind and benevolent desires of General Taylor towards his slaves will be carried out through the instrumentality of the justice of the Courts of Kentucky. And that such sham and unconscionable defenses as were attempted in this case by the trustees of Colonel James Taylor and the heirs of this estate have received the seal of judicial condemnation.
The inevitable result of the decision and recovery in this
case by these parties will be that all of the former slaves of General Taylor
who are now living and the heirs of those who are dead will forthwith proceed to
assert their claims under this will against the estate, and as the decision in
the case is conclusive of the whole matter in their favor, the estate will be
compelled to do justice and carry out the wishes of General Taylor as expressed
in his will. The attorneys representing the former slaves of General
Taylor are: E W Hawkins, Butler Hawkins, O W Root, and A T Root. Those
representing the estate of the Taylors are George Washington, Judge Alvin Duvall
and Hon. William Lindsey.
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The Kentucky State Journal, Friday
September 18, 1891, page 4
The Lumpkin Estate in the Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals yesterday overruled the petition for rehearing in the case of Lumpkins vs. Bigstaff Trustee, involving the validity of the bequest by the late Gen. James Taylor to the Lumpkins and others who had been his slaves.
The case was contested by the Trustee from the beginning;
but the Courts from the Chancery Court to the court of last resort have upheld
the validity of the bequest, and after several years of waiting, the legacy
begins to be a thing tangible. The amount to each of the legatees is about
$5000. The case was argued for them by Hawkins & Hawkins and for the
estate by Col. Washington and Judge Duvall.
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The Kentucky State Journal, Tuesday April
12, 1892, page 1
Another Suit by Col. Taylor's Old Slaves
Alfred Howard and wife, Willis B Hamilton, Washington Lumpkins, Wm Lumpkins and George Lumpkins filed suit in the Chancery Court this morning against W H Trustee and the heirs of General James Taylor for twenty-five acres of land each in the Clark tract with the rents and interest and the same be partitioned off distributed and paid to them or $1250 its value with $1000 rent accrued. They claim this under the will of General James Taylor, who devised the above to those of his slaves who stayed with him until they were thirty years of age. E W Hawkins, attorney.
Ella Reilly and Ester Culbertson also filed suit against H
J Stewart, Executive of Ann Hatfield, deceased, to settle the estate of said
decedent. M J Brown, attorney.
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The
Kentucky State Journal, Saturday April 27, 1895, page 8
Suits of Interest Filed Friday Evening
In the Circuit yesterday, through their attorneys, E W
Hawkins & Sen. James Graham, Louis Hawkins Parker, Susan Howard, Alfred Howard
and W H Hamilton, slaves of the late James Taylor, filed suit against the Taylor
estate for 100 acres of land bequeathed to the colored slaves by the late
Colonel Taylor. A similar suit was decided some time ago against the
estate.