Seven written pages and a folded back (docket). This is the clerk’s certified copy of the bill made for James Roach, one of the defendants, so he could answer it. Blank spaces were left in the original for the day and month of the William Gardner note and the Thomas McKinsy judgment.
Wilson McCullen’s bill in equity against the trustees of James W. Bright, copy served on James Roach – Craven County, 1858
Transcription notes: spelling, capitalization and punctuation follow the original. Words in [square brackets] are editorial notes; [?] marks an uncertain reading and [illegible] marks words that could not be read.
State of North Carolina } Court of Equity
Craven County } Spring Term 1858
To the Honorable the Judge of said Court
The Bill of Complaint of Wilson McCullen of Nassau County in the State of Florida Complainant
Against
Nathan Whitford John Jackson Peter Willis James W. Bright John J. Spier Enoch Anderson James Roach of said County of Craven Augustus Latham of the County of Beaufort North Carolina & Thomas McKinsy of the City and State of New York Defendants
Humbly complaining sheweth unto your Honor your Orator the said Wilson McCullen that the Defendant James W. Bright being on the 22nd day of November AD 1856 indebted beyond the whole value of his Estate did on that day make a deed in fee simple of all his lands and also of all his personal Estate to the defendants Nathan Whitford John Jackson and Peter Willis in trust to sell said real and personal Estate and with the proceeds of the sale thereof to pay first the following notes to wit. One note due and payable to John Murray dated 10th day of April AD 1856 for five hundred dollars with Nathan Whitford John Jackson & Peter Willis Sureties thereto. One note payable to William Gardner dated day of April AD 1856 on thereabouts for One hundred Dollars with Nathan Whitford Surety thereto, One note payable to William
W. Clark cashier or order ninety days after date and dated 27th day of September AD 1856 for two hundred & forty eight dollars with Nathan Whitford John Jackson & Peter Willis Sureties thereto or note substituted in renewal thereof & a judgment in favour of Thomas McKinsy for Sixty dollars dated about the day of AD 1856 Stayed by Peter Willis, and a note payable to William C. Whitford for one hundred & forty 13/100 [?] dollars dated 1st October 1855; and after payment of the above described debts, then out of the remaining proceeds of the sale of the real & personal Estate conveyed in said deed to pay certain other notes which are described in said deed in trust as follows to wit; One note payable to William McCullen for One hundred and fifty three 64/100 dollars dated Jany 7th AD 1856., One note payable to said McCullen for two hundred & fifty dollars dated August 6th AD 1855 One note payable to said McCullen for One hundred and One dollars dated 2nd August AD 1856 – One note payable to said McCullen for Eighty three Dollars dated 20th November AD 1856. One note payable to John J. Spier for Sixty Six 77/100 Dollars dated October 1st 1856. One note payable to Enoch Anderson for Seventy four dollars dated 4th November 1856 and one note payable to James Roach for Seventy four Dollars dated Nov. 4. AD 1856. as in and by the said deed
in trust reference being thereunto had when produced will more fully and at large appear and a certified copy of which your Orator has ready to produce – Your Orator further sheweth unto your Honor that at the time when the said James W. Bright executed the said deed in trust he was indebted to your Orator by four several notes drawn & executed by the said James W. Bright, One for One hundred & fifty three dollars and sixty four cents, payable to your Orator one day after date and dated 7th day of January AD 1856 One for two hundred & fifty dollars payable to your Orator on the 10th day of March AD 1856. with interest from the 10th day of July AD 1855 dated 6th day of August AD 1855 One for One hundred and One Dollars with interest from the 1st day of July AD 1856 & payable to your Orator dated 2nd day of August AD 1856 And one for Eighty three Dollars payable to your Orator and dated the 20th day of November AD 1856 And that said notes are still due and owing to your Orator –
Your Orator further sheweth unto your Honor that the said James W. Bright at the time of executing said deed in trust had no creditor by the name of William McCullen that by the notes described in said deed in trust as payable to William McCullen were meant and intended the notes above described as due & payable to your Orator from the said James W. Bright that a lawyer was employed to draft said deed in trust and was directed by the said James
W. Bright and Nathan Whitford to provide in said deed in trust for the payment among the debts of the second class of the notes which your Orator held against said James W. Bright payable to your Orator which are above described., and that the draftsman by mistake or misapprehension in attempting to describe in said deed the said notes above described made by said James W. Bright payable to your Orator described them as payable to William McCullen instead of your Orator Wilson McCullen –
Your Orator further sheweth that the said notes given by James W. Bright are still due & owing and that they are sufficiently identified by the amounts and dates thereof which are correctly set forth in said deed in trust with the exception of the amount of the note for $101. which is stated in said trust deed as being $201
Your Orator further sheweth unto your Honor that the trustees under said deed in trust have sold all the property conveyed thereby & have paid out of the proceeds of the sale all the debts of the first class which they were directed to pay first and have a large fund left of the proceeds of the sale wherewith to pay wholly or in part the second class of debts named in said deed – Your Orator is advised that he is entitled to have
the said notes which he holds against the Defendant James W. Bright paid out of the trust fund remaining in the hands of the said trustees if it is sufficient to pay all the debts of the second class but if it is not sufficient to pay all the debts of the second class in full, then to have a pro rata share of said fund applied towards the satisfaction of the said notes which he holds against the said James W. Bright –
Your Orator further sheweth that he has frequently applied to the Defendants Nathan Whitford John Jackson & Peter Willis and requested them as trustees to pay the said notes which your Orator holds against the defendant James W. Bright in full or if the trust fund in their hands is not sufficient to pay all the debts of the second class, then to pay to your Orator the pro rata share of said fund to which he is entitled. but they have refused to do so –.
To the End therefore that the said Nathan Whitford John Jackson Peter Willis James W. Bright John J. Spier Enoch Anderson James Roach Augustus Latham & Thomas McKinsy may upon their several & respective corporal oaths full true direct & perfect answer make to all and singular the matters aforesaid and that as fully & particularly as if the same were here repeated & they & each of them distinctly interrogated thereto, And more especially that they
may answer and set forth; Whether the draftsman of the said deed in trust was not directed to write the same so as to secure the notes aforesaid which your Orator holds against the defendant James W. Bright among the debts of the second class mentioned in said trust deed –?,
Whether by the notes described in said deed in trust as payable to William McCullen were not meant and intended the notes hereinbefore set forth which your Orator held against the said James W. Bright & payable to your Orator And whether the draftsman of said deed in trust did not in attempting to describe the notes which your Orator held, made by said James W. Bright & payable to your Orator by mistake or misapprehension describe said notes as payable to William McCullen instead of your Orator
That an account may be decreed to be taken of the proceeds of the sale of the property conveyed by said deed in trust and of the amount of the debts provided for in said deed; that the aforesaid notes which your Orator holds against the defendant James W. Bright together with the interest thereon may be paid by the defendants Nathan Whitford, John Jackson & Peter Willis the trustees, if the said trust fund in their hands be sufficient to pay all the debts mentioned
in said deed as constituting the second class of debts, or if it is insufficient to pay said second class debts in full that a pro-rata share of the trust fund be paid by the said trustees on the said Notes which your Orator holds against said James W. Bright as debts of the second class; and that your Orator may have such other & further relief in the premises as the nature and circumstances of this case may require and to your Honor shall seem meet; May it please your Honor to grant unto your Orator the State’s writ of Subpoena to be directed to the said Nathan Whitford, John Jackson, Peter Willis, James W. Bright, John J. Spier, Enoch Anderson James Roach, Augustus Latham & Thomas McKinsy commanding them to appear before your Honor in this Honorable Court at the next term thereof then & there to answer the premises &c
And your Orator shall ever pray &c
A. G. Hubbard [?] Solicitor for Complainant
Certified to be a true copy of an original Bill filed in the Office of the Court of Equity for Craven County at Newbern the 25th March AD 1858
Witness
W. G. Bryan C. & M. E. [Clerk and Master in Equity]
In Equity
Wilson McCullen
vs.
Nathan Whitford & others
Copy for James Roach
About the original
The amount of the William C. Whitford note is read as “one hundred & forty 13/100 dollars”; the fraction is small and not fully clear. The solicitor’s signature is read as “A. G. Hubbard” with a question mark. The clerk is W. G. Bryan, Clerk and Master in Equity.
The case in short: James W. Bright, deep in debt, deeded all his land and goods on November 22, 1856 to Nathan Whitford, John Jackson and Peter Willis as trustees, to pay his creditors in two classes. Wilson McCullen of Nassau County, Florida, said the lawyer who drew the deed mistakenly wrote “William McCullen” for his four notes (and $201 for the $101 note), and asked the court to have the trustees pay him his share. James Roach was named because he was one of the second-class creditors, holding Bright’s note for seventy-four dollars dated November 4, 1856.
The faint pencil writing on the docket page is bleed-through from another paper and is not transcribed.
Source: Wilson McCullen’s bill in equity against the trustees of James W. Bright, copy served on James Roach. Roach Family Papers (#346), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, Box 1, Folder d (Legal Records, 1784–1901). Collection guide. Digitized folder: ECU Digital Collections, 0346-b1-fd.
Images courtesy of East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. View in ECU Digital Collections: 35870.
Also from this folder: Swift Creek residents hire Turner Nelson as teacher of “Reading writing and Arithmetic” in 1823.
Part of the Roach Family Papers collection on East Carolina Roots.
