John Catron

“ The Virginia estates have passed into other hands, to satisfy her husband's creditors: most of the slaves have been sold to supply his improvidence and necessities: and the little that is left of the property secured to Mrs. Lee, (down to the humblest utensil,) is now sought to be appropriated to the satisfaction of the judgment on which the bill is founded.
That the deed of trust to Henry S. Turner, and others, to secure Judge Washington's debt, was executed in good faith, is not controverted; the objection is, that the debt was paid by means independent of the lands mortgaged ”

“ The statute of Virginia has been adopted in Tennessee; where it has been holden, that a deed like the present, founded on a good consideration, and separating the title from the possession, was within the statute, and must be recorded: but when recorded, creditors and purchasers of him who retains the possession must take notice of it; and that the recording exempts the property from liability to execution. ”

“ Lee to advertise the community in which she lived, that her husband had no title to the property on the faith of which he was obtaining credit; but that it was heres? This would have been charging the husband with fraudulent conduct; for it cannot be denied, that if A sells and conveys his slaves or lands, and then produces to another his previous paper title, and obtains credit upon the goods or lands by pledging them for money loaned, he is guilty of a fraud; and if the true owner stands by and does not make his title known, he will be bound to make good the contract ”

“ In 1821, Stacy recovered a judgment against Daniel Crenshaw in the county of his residence in Tennessee, by virtue of an execution, founded on which Anthony, the sheriff, seized upon the slaves; and Cornelius Crenshaw, as his mother's trustee, sued the sheriff in detinue. The Circuit Court held the deed of trust void by force of the statute of Tennessee, (which is very nearly a transcript of that of Virginia,) because the deed had not been recorded in Tennessee ”

“ J. Lee answers, that the deed of 1809 was executed by Richard Bland Lee, to himself and others, as trustees for Elizabeth Lee, the wife of said Richard Bland Lee; that it sets forth the true consideration for the same; that the respondent is the only surviving trustee; that he never did give notice to the complainants of the existence of the deed; but that he did not know, until shortly before Richard Bland Lee's death, that he had made the deed of trust to Richard Smith ”

“ And the deed vesting the property in Mrs. Lee's trustees, having been duly recorded in the manner required by the statute, it was effectual according to the laws of Virginia, to protect the title against subsequent creditors of, or purchasers from, Richard Bland Lee. ”

“ This respondent admits that no sale of the Fairfax lands was made under the said deed to Henry S. Turner and others; she, therefore, makes no claim to the slaves, Ludwell, Thornton, Henry, Butler, Tom, Samuel, Jack, and Eleanor; that none of the said last mentioned slaves are in her possession or subject to her control, nor were they so when the complainants issued out their writ of replevin in their bill mentioned, or at the time they instituted this suit. ”

“ J. Lee, William Maffit, and Richard Coleman, in trust for the sole and separate use of the said Elizabeth; that she had exhibited the deed to the complainants, but which they aver was voluntary, fraudulent, and void, as against them, because they were purchasers for a valuable consideration, without notice of such deed; as also creditors of Richard Bland Lee, the grantor. That the considerations set forth in the deed are not truly stated ”