Richard Cooley and Simon Gray

From: Michael Cooley <michael_at_newsummer.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:16:36 -0800

Lifted from http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnstewar/will/WillBookC.htm

--quote--
474 Richard Cooley, William K. Colson, John K. Colson, James Scarborough,
Joseph Smith, administrator's bond for Simon Gray; 1 Feb 1836

478 will of Simon Gray, a free man of color living on Dyer's Creek: wife
Fanny (purchased of Thomas French), children Josiah and Cassy; wife and
any children are to be emancipated at his death; wit: Will Fitzgerald,
John Lee Sr.; written 13 Feb 1836, proven Feb. term 1836
--endquote--

How could it be that a man named Simon Gray would have become "a free man
of color living on Dyer's Creek?" We know that Joseph Gray was a slave
owner. Interesting, we also know that he had at least one illegitimate
child.

Last night while researching the Grays in Stewart County I found the
following at cisupa.proquest.com/ksc_assets/catalog/101087.pdf

--quote--
BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES
Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections
General Editors:
John H. Bracey, Jr., and Sharon Harley
A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of
Race, Slavery, and Free Blacks
Series II, Petitions to Southern County Courts, 1775–1867
Part E: Arkansas (1824–1867), Missouri (1806–1860), Tennessee (1792–1868),
and

---
From pages 13 and 14 of the PDF:
The bulk of the Tennessee petitions contain information on buying, selling,
trading, mortgaging, and distributing estate slaves, but there is a
surprising diversity of other subjects covered in the documents, including
interracial mixing, divorce, free blacks, slave hiring, emancipation, black
children, slave mothers, emigration, female slave owners, and colonization
to Liberia. There are also petitions about persons of mixed ancestry, slave
insubordination, breeding blacks, selling or trading babies, African
American genealogy, purchase of family members, and holding free blacks
illegally in bondage.
An example of this diversity can be seen in the petitions from Washington
County, located in the mountains of northeastern Tennessee, where one might
think there would be little documentation about slavery. In fact, a number
of petitions in that county involved slaves and free persons of color.
There are also a number of petitions that provide moving personal testimony
about the struggles of blacks for dignity and freedom. In Dickson County,
Tennessee, Fanny Gray, a woman of color, and her six children, sued by their
"next friend" John Scarbrough [also spelled Scarbourough] a certain John K.
Colson [also spelled Colston]. In her 1837 petition to the chancery court,
she set forth the following facts: in 1825, she had been purchased by her
"husband" Simon Gray, an emancipated slave; in 1834, she and her children
had been emancipated by a decree of the Stewart County, Tennessee, court; in
1835, Simon had died, leaving a will; in 1836, Richard Cooly, described as
"wholy insolvent," was appointed administrator of the estate. The suit
charged that Cooly conspired with John K. Colson, Wilson K. Colson [also
spelled Coulston], James Scarbrough, and Joseph Smith to sell the family as
slaves. The only "responsible person" among them was Smith, but he was "old
and infirm and has been taken in by the affsaid Confederates sometimes
indulging in the use of ardent spirits." When two of the "confederates" took
Fanny and her children to Smithfield, Kentucky, to sell, however, they were
all arrested, the whites for harboring runaways and the blacks as fugitives.
Bribing local authorities, the whites made their escape and returned to
Tennessee, where John Colson gained administration of the estate. Returning
to Kentucky, Colson filed suit to recover the family and received a judgment
in his favor. He then returned to Smith County and petitioned the circuit
court to grant him permission to sell the blacks. He had always regarded the
family as slaves, he said, and in any event, Fanny "is a weak indolent
trifling lying mischievous Negro and unfit for freedom." When the court
rejected his plea, Colson defied the order and sold Josiah and Cassandra,
Fanny's two eldest children, for $1,200. The final chapter came when the
court, citing a $1,200 judgment against him, noted that Colson had recently
died with a small estate, and that Fanny’s suit should therefore "abate."
The twenty-one-page case includes a six-page petition and fifteen pages of
related documents. The citation for this case includes the following:
Petition of Fanny Gray, Josiah Gray, Cassandra Gray, Martha Gray, Eveline
Gray, Mary Gray, Henry Gray, and John Scarbourough to the Chancery Court of
Dickson County, Tennessee, 29 July 1837;
Related Documents: Order, 1 August 1837;
Copy of Bill of Sale, Thomas French to Simon Gray, 12 February 1825;
Copy of Registration of Bill of Sale, 17 March 1825;
Copy of Order, October Term 1836;
Certification of Copies, 29 July 1837;
Copy of Last Will and Testament, Simon Gray, 13 February 1827;
Certification of Copy, 29 July 1837;
Copy of Bonds, 1 February 1836, 3 October 1836;
Certification of Copies, 29 July 1837;
Answers, John K. Colson, 30 September 1837; Richard Cooley, William K.
Colson, 30 September 1837; John K. Colson, 27 September 1837;
Complainants' Statement, ca. September 1837;
Decree, ca. 30 March 1839, found in Records of the Chancery Court, Fanny
Gray, et al., v. John K. Coulston, et al., Record Book 1836–1846, pp.
214–134, Dickson County Courthouse Annex, Charlotte, Tennessee.
--enquote--

Received on Fri Dec 21 2012 - 20:16:36 MST