NC Supreme Court Case #8498 \u2013 J. H. Jackson and wife and others vs E.\u00a0H. Rhem, Jr., Adm\u2019r & Others<\/p>\n
Dec 1860 \u2013 Case found at the NC Archives,<\/p>\n
Raleigh, NC and abstracted by Martha Mewborn Marble<\/a><\/p>\n John Henry Jackson and wife, William J. Hunter and wife vs Edward Rhem\u00a0Adm of Edward Rhem, dec \u2013 Petition to distribute shares of estate<\/p>\n John H. Jackson & wife Nancy and William J. Hunter & wife Christeanna\u00a0of Lenoir County state that Edward Rhem late of the County of Craven\u00a0died late in the year of 1855 \u2013 at Dec Court 1855 Edward Rhem Jr was\u00a0appointed administrator \u2013 Edward Rhem dec had a large personal estate \u00a0consisting of notes accountable worth about $5000, 30 negroes, a large\u00a0amount of chattle property and he was not in debt \u2013 the administrator\u00a0has had plenty of time to settle the estate and he hasn\u2019t<\/p>\n Edward dec had next of kin as follows: a brother Jacob Rhem who lives\u00a0in Craven Co; William B. Rhem and Susan wife of Joseph Kinsey children\u00a0of deceased brother, William; William, Haywood and Edward Rhem (the\u00a0said administrator) children of deceased brother, John; Elizabeth Gracy\u00a0wife of H. G. Gracey, Hannah wife of Daniel Perry, Susan wife of Elijah\u00a0Perry, John, Joseph and Priscilla Rhem children of deceased brother\u00a0Amos; George W. and Jacob West the children of deceased sister Hannah\u00a0West; Amos Simmons, Mary wife of George Hatch, and Sophia wife of\u00a0Philip Forness children of deceased sister Elizabeth Simmons; Julia\u00a0Sanderson daughter of deceased sister Christiana Foscue; and your\u00a0petitioners Nancy Jackson and Christiana Hunter as the children of\u00a0deceased brother Melcher Rhem.<\/p>\n The petitioners are entitled to 1\/8 part and are desirous of receiving\u00a0their share.<\/p>\n The following reside in Jones Co \u2013 Hannah Perry wife of Daniel Perry,\u00a0Priscilla Rhem, Elijah Perry and wife Susan, Julia Sanderson and Susan\u00a0King (sic) wife of Joseph King (sic). The following reside in Craven\u00a0County \u2013 Jacob Rhem, Haywod Rhem, George W. West, Elizabeth Gracy,\u00a0Joseph Rhem and Amos Simmons.<\/p>\n The following reside in Lenoir County \u2013 \u00a0Jacob West, John Rhem, John H. Jackson and wife Nancy and William J\u00a0Hunter and wife Christiana.<\/p>\n The following are non residents of North\u00a0Carolina \u2013 William B. Rhem, Mary Hatch wife of Joseph Hatch, Philip\u00a0Forness and wife Sophia.<\/p>\n The estate should be settled as follows:<\/p>\n Maringo County, Alabama Court \u2013 Sophia E. and Philip D. Forness resided\u00a0in this county.<\/p>\n Answer of the defendants \u2013 many of the heirs deny that Nancy Jackson\u00a0and Christiana Hunter were next of kin and further said they were not\u00a0entitled to any part of the estate. They contend Nancy and Christiana\u00a0are the illegitimate children of Melcher Rhem as said Melcher Rhem\u00a0never married.<\/p>\n The following were brought into evidence to support the marriage of\u00a0Melcher Rhem<\/p>\n Depositions<\/p>\n NOTE: Many of these depositions said the same thing so only additional\u00a0information is given for each deposition after the initial statements\u00a0are covered<\/p>\n 1. John Daugherty \u2013 26 Feb 1858 – was acquainted with Melcher Rhem and\u00a0Alice Davis for 30 years or more previous to the time they were said to\u00a0be married \u2013 Alice lived on Melcher\u2019s plantation 20 years ago and\u00a0people thought they were married and they lived together until she died\u00a0\u2013 I called her Mrs. Rhem but I was not present at the marriage. Mrs.\u00a0Rhem had children before she lived with Melcher by the names of\u00a0Eunice, Ann, William and Athenise?? \u2013 then she had two more children by\u00a0the names of Nancy and Christiana who were twins \u2013 Melcher and Alice\u00a0had co-habitated before their marriage and these children were called\u00a0Davis then changed to Rhem \u2013 Melcher treated all his children alike<\/p>\n 2. James Kilpatrick \u2013 26 Feb 1858 \u2013 stated he had known Melcher all his\u00a0life, 50 years, and had known his wife for 30 years \u2013 he was not sure\u00a0they were ever married \u2013 Alice and the children attended Church in\u00a0Rhem\u2019s carriage but Rhem didn\u2019t attend church or if he did he went\u00a0separately<\/p>\n 3. Dr. Thomas Woodley \u2013 26 Feb 1858 \u2013 stated Rhem and his wife had\u00a0children William, Nancy and Christiana \u2013 stated he considered her Mrs.\u00a0Rhem but he could not testify to their marriage as he (Woodley) was not\u00a0a citizen of Lenoir Co at the time<\/p>\n 4. Richard W. King \u2013 26 Feb 1858 \u2013 stated they always acted as if married<\/p>\n 5. Jesse Jackson \u2013 27 Feb 1858 – stated he knew Melcher and Alice\u00a0since 1835 and they treated each other as husband and wife and the\u00a0children used the surname of the father \u2013 in 1846 Rhem requested me to\u00a0have his three oldest children legitimized as I was a member of the NC\u00a0Legislature \u2013 I asked him about his daughters Nancy and Christiana and\u00a0his reply was they were born after his marriage with Alice and were\u00a0legitimate \u2013 I wrote the Will of Rhem and I called his two oldest\u00a0children illegitimate per his request \u2013 their names are Emily wife of\u00a0John Rhem and Martha wife of George W. West and they were born before\u00a0he married Alice \u2013 Alice joined the Church at Harriett\u2019s Chappell in\u00a0June 1843 as the wife of Melcher Rhem<\/p>\n 6. P Hardee \u2013 14 April 1858 – he did not marry them despite the rumor \u2013\u00a0he thinks that Rhem just got the license to keep from being indicted<\/p>\n 7. Ann B. Bryan \u2013 1 May 1858 \u2013 she did hear Rhem say he never married\u00a0Alice and he told her this as Alice was laying dead in the house \u00a0(Note: although it does not say so there are indications that Ann was\u00a0the wife of Lewis O. Bryan)<\/p>\n 8. James E. Edwards \u2013 16 April 1858 \u2013 stated he herd Rhem say he never\u00a0married Alice in 1847\/48 but he (Rhem) intended to take care of all of\u00a0his children in his Will<\/p>\n 9. Alexander Tilghman \u2013 8 June 1858 \u2013 stated he knows James E. Edwards\u00a0and Edwards was generally considered a man of bad character and I would\u00a0not believe anything he says \u2013 stated that Edwards was not of sound mind<\/p>\n 10. John Jackson \u2013 June 1858 \u2013 stated he had known James Edward for 3\u00a0or 4 years and would not believe his oath \u2013 stated that Rhem treated\u00a0Alice as his wife<\/p>\n 11. Fred. G. Griffin \u2013 8 June 1858 \u2013 stated he had known James Edward\u00a0for 5 or 6 years and had a bad reputation for the truth \u2013 stated I\u00a0lived about 8 miles from Rhem<\/p>\n 12. Lewis O. Bryan \u2013 stated he heard Rhem say they had never married<\/p>\n 13. Ann Bryan \u2013 said Rhem told her he never married Alice because of a\u00a0promise<\/p>\n 14. Shadrack Loftin \u2013 stated he lived 4 miles from Rhem and further\u00a0stated that Rhem was displeased with the marriages of his twins and he\u00a0never wanted them to inherit \u2013 stated that Rhem told him he intended to\u00a0change his Will but he died before doing so<\/p>\n Superior Court Fall Term 1860 \u2013 in this document it states that Clinton\u00a0Cox boarded with Rhem in 1836 and Rhem told him he used to keep Alice\u00a0in a house in the old field about 300 yards from the main house and\u00a0they had 4 children. Then Rhem moved her to the main house and had the\u00a0twins who were about 9 months old in 1836 \u2013 he stated that Rhem told\u00a0Cox he was not married to Alice and “he be dammed if he ever would\u00a0marry her”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NC Supreme Court Case #8498 \u2013 J. H. Jackson and wife and others vs E.\u00a0H. Rhem, Jr., Adm\u2019r & Others Dec 1860 \u2013 Case found at the NC Archives, Raleigh, NC and abstracted by Martha Mewborn Marble John Henry Jackson and wife, William J. Hunter and wife vs Edward Rhem\u00a0Adm of Edward Rhem, dec \u2013 … Continue reading “J.H. Jackson and others”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":287,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-415","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/415\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncgenweb.us\/jones\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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