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Bill of Complaint - 1800
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Chancery Court of New Jersey John Stites (note that Robert
Randall as he appears in this complaint, is properly identified as Robert Fitz
Randolph in the defendants answer) To his Excellency Richard Howell Esquire Governor Captain general &
Commander in Chief in and over the State of New Jersey and territories thereunto
belonging Chancellor and Ordinary in the same Humbly complaining sheweth unto your Excellency your orator John Stites of
Elizabeth Town in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey that Doctor James
Manning formerly of Providence in the State of Rhode Island sometime in the
month of June in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred ninety three
died intestate and without issue leaving a considerable real and personal the
one tenth part of which by course of law was liable to be distributed among the
children of Enoch Manning then deceased one of the brothers of the said James
Manning deceased the said Enoch having died in the lifetime of the said Doctor
James Manning and having first made his last Will and Testament appointed his
wife Jennet Manning executrix who since his decease had intermarried with one (blank)
Creel and Benjamin Blackford and David Edgar executors of his last Will and
Testament which was proved and the administration thereof only committed to the
said Jennet, Benjamin and David as your orator had been informed and believes And your orator further sheweth unto your Excellency that the said David
Edgar one of the said executors of the said Enoch Manning deceased together with
the said Jennet Creel executrix of the said Enoch Manning did agree to sell to
your orator & convey unto him the one fifth part of the personal estate of
the said Doctor James Manning deceased under a supposition that the said one
fifth part was the distributive share and proportion of the children of the said
Enoch Manning deceased and that they had full right to sell all the interest of
the said children of the said Enoch Manning to the said distributive shares And your orator further sheweth that supposing not only that the children of
the said Enoch Manning decease (who then were & still are minors) were
entitled to the said one fifth part of the said personal estate of the said
Doctor James Manning deceased but also that the said David and Jennet had full
power and lawful authority to sell and convey the same to your orator who did
agree to purchase the said one fifth part of the estate of the said Doctor James
Manning for the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds New York currency and the
said David Edgar executor as aforesaid and the said jennet Creel as executrix
and natural guardian of the children of the said Enoch Manning deceased her late
husband for the purpose of conveying the said fifth part of the said personal
estate to your orator did execute under their hands and seal and deliver to your
orator a certain instrument of writing purporting to be a Bill of Sale for the
same bearing date the first day of March in the year of our Lord seventeen
hundred and ninety four as by reference to the said instrument of writing now in
the possession of your orator and ready to be produced as this honorable Court
shall direct will appear upon which your orator to secure the payment of the
said sum of two hundred and forty pounds being the purchase money and
consideration in the before mentioned instrument of writing contained did
execute and deliver unto the said David Edgar and Benjamin Blackford executors
of the said Enoch Manning deceased his certain Bond or obligation bearing date
the thirty first day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand seven and
ninety four in the penal sum of five hundred pounds conditioned for the payment
of two hundred and fifty pounds And your orator further sheweth unto your Excellency that he has been lately
advised and now finds and is fully able to shew that the children of the said
Enoch Manning deceased were never entitled to ore than a tenth part of the
personal estate of the said Doctor James Manning deceased but that the said
David Edgar and Jennet Creel or either of them had no power or authority to make
any title to your orator to any part whatever of the said distributive share of
the said children of Enoch Manning deceased and that no title whatever is vested
in him for the same and that if he should discharge the said Bond given for the
consideration of the same distributive shares he would still be liable to be
called to account at some future day by the said children of Enoch Manning
deceased for whatever he might have received on account of the said shares from
the administration of James Manning deceased in virtue of the power of attorney
contained in the instrument of conveyance before mentioned And your orator further sheweth unto your Excellency that one Doctor Robert
Randall of Plainfield in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey pretending
that he has some time since taken out letters of administration to the said
children of the said Enoch Manning deceased who are minors as aforesaid and in
virtue thereof has taken into his own hands the bond so as aforesaid given by
your orator to secure the payment of the said sum of two hundred and fifty
pounds the consideration money given by your orator for the supposed purchase of
the one fifth part of the personal estate of the said Doctor James Manning upon
which said Bond the said Doctor Robert Randall has caused your orator to be
lately prosecuted in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas holden at Elizabeth Town
in and for the Borough of Elizabeth and obtained a judgment against your orator
in the same Court in the term of (blank) last past for the penal sum in
the said Bond mentioned and issued an execution to the Sheriff of the said
Borough directed thereby commanding him to cause to be raised even a larger sum
of money namely the sum of fifty one dollars more than appears to be due thereon
on a fair valuation in virtue of which your orator’s property has been seized
and levied on and is threatened shortly to be sold for the payment of the money
on the said execution endorsed unless your orator shall pay the same in a short
time upon which your orator in a friendly manner sent to the said Doctor Robert
Randall to enquire whether if your orator would pay the amount appearing to be
really due on the said Bond together with costs of suit he would stay all
further proceedings on the said judgment and execution and indemnify your orator
from all future demands of the children of the said Enoch Manning deceased and
each of them on account of the said distributive shares and the said Robert
Randall declared he would not with which request your orator had well hoped that
the said Robert would have complied and further that he would have guaranteed to
your orator the whole fifth share of the estate of the said James Manning
agreeably to the said purchase But now so it is may it please your Excellency that the said Doctor Robert
Randall combining and confederating with the said David Edgar Jennet Creel and (blank)
Creel her husband and diverse other persons to your orator as yet unknown but
whose names when discovered he prays may be inserted in this his bill of
complaint with apt word to charge them how to injure and defraud your orator in
the premises not only refuses to stay all further proceedings on the said
Judgment and execution and indemnify your orator in case he should pay the money
actually due on the said Bond given by your orator to secure the said purchase
money or to guarantee to your orator the recovery of the whole fifth share of
the estate of the said James Manning deceased but persists in proceeding on said
Judgment and execution pretending that to indemnify your orator against the
children of the said Enoch Manning he is no wise obliged on to make the said
guarantee and gives out in speeches that the children of the said Enoch Manning
deceased are entitled to the fifth part of the personal estate of the said
Doctor James Manning and that the said Jennet Creel and David Edgar had full
power and lawful authority to sell and to convey the same to your orator in
manner as before set forth and that your orator will in no wise be liable to
account to the said children or any of them for any part of the said
distributive share that he may receive from the administrator of the said James
Manning deceased And further that if your orator is liable to be called to account as
aforesaid at any future day on account ofn the said distributive shares he is
entitled to no relief in a Court of Equity until he has been compelled to
account as aforesaid and that neither the said Doctor James Randall or the said
Jennet Creel and David Edgar are now liable to be called upon this Honorable
Court to indemnify your orator against any event that may not take place whereas
your orator charges and so the truth is that the said James Manning died
intestate without issue leaving a wife and four brothers and one sister entitled
to the distribution of his estate in which case the said wife was entitled to
the one half part and the remaining half part was to be divided equally among
the said brothers and so that the share belonging to the children of the said
Enoch Manning in the whole amounts to no more than one tenth part And your orator further charges that the said David Edgar and Jennet Creel
had no right to sell and dispose of any part of the said distributive shares as
the same never became vested in the said Enoch Manning deceased he having died
in the life time of the said Doctor James Manning And your orator also further expressly charges that he will be liable to be
called to account by each of the children of the said Enoch Manning who are now
minors as they shall respectively arrive at the age of twenty one years for any
part of the said distributive shares to which they are entitled and which your
orator shall receive by virtue of the before mentioned instrument of writing and
the warrant of attorney contained in the same given as aforesaid to your orator
and that your orator is in no wise obliged to wait until he is actually forced
into a law suit by the said children and put to great expense and trouble before
he can call upon the confederates to be indemnified against the same All which
actings pretences and doings of the said confederates are contrary to equity and
good conscience and tend to the great injury of your orator In tender consideration whereof and for as much as your orator has no remedy
by the strict of the common law but is only relievable in a Court of Equity were
matters of this kind are properly cognizable the more especially as your
orator’s witnesses by whom the truth of the matter might be proved are either
dead or gone into parts beyond sea at present unknown to your orator To the end therefore that the said Doctor Robert Randall David Edgar and
Jennet Creel and (blank) Creel her husband and the rest of the
confederates when discovered may upon their several and respective corporal
oaths true direct and perfect answer make to all and singular the premises as
fully and particularly as if the same where here again repeated and they thereun
to particularly interrogated and more especially that they may set forth and
declare whether the said Doctor James Manning died intestate and without issue
at the time herein before set forth or at any other and what time and whether he
did not have considerable real and personal estate and whether the said Doctor
James Manning did not have a widow and four brothers and one sister or how many
brothers and sisters he did have and whether the one half of the said personal
estate of the said Doctor James Manning did not at his death become vested in
his widow and whether the other half did not become vested in equal proportions
in his said brothers and sister or their lawful representatives or what
proportion of the said personal estate each of them were respectively entitled
unto And also that they may set forth whether the said David Edgar Benjamin
Blackford and Jennet Creel or any and which of them did agree to sell to your
orator and convey to him the distributive shares of the said children of the
said Enoch Manning deceased to the personal estate of the said Doctor James
Manning and whether the said David Edgar and Jennet Creel did not convey to your
orator the one fifth part of the personal estate of the said Doctor James
Manning deceased supposing that the children of the said Enoch Manning deceased
were entitled to that proportion in manner as before set forth or in any other
and way and whether the said Jennet and David did not execute and deliver to
your orator the said instrument of writing they or either of them have executed
for the purpose of conveying the said distributive shares And whether your
orator did not agree to give for the same the sum of two hundred and forty
pounds and in order to receive the same payment thereof execute and deliver to
the said David and Benjamin his Bond or obligation for the same in manner as
before set forth or what sum of money was given for the said distributive shares
by your orator and how the payment thereof was secured And that the said Doctor Robert Randall may set forth and declare whether he
has taken out letters of guardianship to the children of the said Enoch Manning
deceased or any and which of them and whether in virtue of the said guardianship
or under any other and what authority he has taken into his own hands the Bond
as aforesaid given by your orator to secure the purchase as aforesaid and
whether the same has not been put in suit and a Judgment entered and execution
thereon issued against your orator in manner as before set forth and what sum
was really due on the said Bond at the time of entering the said Judgment and
what sum the said execution and whether the same is not more than appears to be
really due for principal interest and costs upon a fair calculation and whether
the said Sheriff of the Borough of Elizabeth has not been directed to proceed
and sell your orators property in order to raise the said sum of money endorsed
on the said execution And whether your orator by himself or his son and agent did not apply to the
said Doctor Randall and enquire of him whether if your orator should pay the
amount of the said purchase money he the said Robert Randall would indemnify
your orator against any future demands that might be made against your orator by
the said children of Enoch Manning or any of them for or on account of any of
the said distributive shares of the said personal estate and whether the said
Robert Randall did not altogether refuse and that the said Bond or obligation
was aforesaid given by your orator may be given up to be canceled and the whole
of the said bargain and sale was aforesaid made of the distributive shares of
the said personal estate may be set aside and rendered utterly void and null as
founded on an evident and clear mistake and that your orator may have such other
and further relief in the premises as to your Excellency shall seem agreeable to
equity and good conscience May it please your Excellency to grant unto your orator not only the States
most gracious Writ of Injunction issuing out of and under the seal of this
Honorable Court to restrain the said Doctor Robert Randall and the said David
Edgar and Benjamin Blackford and each of them from proceeding at law against
your orator on the said Bond and Judgment so as aforesaid but also the States
most gracious Writ of subpoena to be directed to the said Doctor James Randall
David Edgar and Benjamin Blackford and the said (blank) Creel and Jennet
his wife and the rest of the confederates when discovered thereby commanding
them and every of them at a certain day and under a certain pain therein to be
specified personally to be and appear before your Excellency in this Honorable
Court then and there to answer all and singular the premises aforesaid and to
stand to perform and abide such order direction and decree therein as to your
Excellency shall seem meet And your orator shall ever pray Filed 22 February 1800 In Chancery Affidavit to Injunction John Stites I have greed that an injunction in the above case might issue without the
deposit being actually made, as the money on controversy appears to be fully
secured. Matthias Williamson junr. (added notation in another hand) J. Stites will thank Mr Crof? to send the injunction by the mail directed to
Abraham Stites, Student of Law to? Aaron Ogden Acknowledgments to the New Jersey State Archives :- |