# Lancaster County, SC - Court of Common Pleas - Judgment Roll 535 | | | |---|---| | **Case** | Halcott Evans & wife Rebecca et al. v. Henry Vincent et al. (partition of the land of Ann Vincent, deceased) | | **Dates** | 1823 | | **Roll** | Box 15, Roll 535 | | **Pages in source images** | 6 | ## Source Lancaster County (formerly Lancaster District), South Carolina, Court of Common Pleas, Judgment Roll 535 (Box 15). Original records held by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, SC. Transcribed from photographs of the original judgment roll (image file: [535.pdf](535.pdf), 6 pages). ## Disclaimer This transcription was made using AI (Claude, by Anthropic) from photographs of the original court papers. It is an attempted transcription, not a certified copy. Faded ink, difficult handwriting, torn folds and damaged pages make some readings uncertain, and errors are possible. Check the original images before relying on any reading. ## Transcription conventions - Original spelling, capitalization and abbreviations are kept as written. - `[?]` = uncertain reading; `[illegible]` = could not be read; `[blank]` = a space left empty on the original. - `[struck: ...]` = printed or written text that is lined through on the original. - `[...]` and *[italic bracketed notes]* = editorial explanations added by the transcriber; `[letters]` inside a word = letters supplied to expand an abbreviation. - On printed forms, handwritten fill-ins are shown in ***bold italics*** where it helps to tell them apart from the printed text. - "PDF p." numbers refer to the page order of the source image file, which is not always the order the papers were written in. **Notes on these images:** - The roll holds two papers: the writ of partition (PDF pp. 4-6) and the commissioners' return (PDF pp. 1-3). The transcription gives the writ first. - PDF p. 3 is a second photograph of the foot of the return (p. 2), with the fold held open to show James Massey's signature. - The writ is written in a rapid, cramped hand and is faded along the folds; uncertain words are marked. ## Transcription **PDF p. 6 - Docket on the back of the writ** > Halcott Evans > & wife > v } Writ in Parti[tion] > Henry Vincent > et al > > William Clinton > Pro. Com[?] --- **PDF pp. 5 and 4 - Writ of partition, March 1823** > State of South Carolina } Partition > Lancaster District } > > To Henry Massey, James Massey, Tho^s Cureton, John Crawford & Rob^t Stinson Esq^rs Greeting - > > Whereas it is suggested Ann Vincent deceased in her lifetime and at the time of her death was seized in her demesne as of fee of a tract of land situate in the State & District aforesaid lying on the waters of the Waxhaw Creek, containing [blank] acres more or less, being the plantation whereon the said Ann died - That the said Ann being so seized & possessed thereof as aforesaid in the year of [blank] departed this life, leaving Halcott Evans & Rebecca his wife, Ja^s Vincent, Rebecca Vincent & Sarah Vincent children and heirs at Law of Edmund Vincent deceased, [Henry] Vincent, David Vincent, William Vincent & Edmund Williamson & Nancy his wife, & the heirs at Law of Thomas Vincent, (their names mentioned in the summons, & not now recollected) - > > Thereupon you the [said] Henry Massey, James Massey, Tho^s Cureton, John Crawford, & Robert Stinson Commissioners for that purpose by the Court appointed, [are] hereby commanded that within three weeks from the date hereof, you or a majority of you in your proper persons go to & upon the premises aforesaid with their appurtenances & in the presence of the said heirs so aforesaid, by you to be warned if they wish to be present, & you then & there fairly and justly & impartially according to the best of your judgment, divide the the said land or plantation aforesaid, together with the buildings, hereditaments & appurtenances thereunto belonging & appertaining, relation & regard being had to the true & intrinsic value of the same, into seven equal parts - > > & that to the said Halcott Evans & Rebecca his wife in their own right you cause to be assigned the one seventh part of the said tract or plantation; to James Vincent, Rebecca Vincent & Sarah Vincent the heirs at Law of Edmund Vincent deceased, you cause to be assigned the one seventh part of the said Plantation or tract of land; to Henry Vincent you cause to be assigned the one seventh of the said tract or plantation; to David [?] Vincent you cause to be assigned the one seventh part of the said tract or plantation; to William Vincent you cause to be assigned one seventh of the said tract or plantation; & to [the] Heirs at law & representatives [?] of Thomas Vincent deceased the one seventh part of the said tract or plantation; & to Edmund Williamson & Nancy his wife you cause to be assigned the one seventh part of the said tract or plantation; & that you put each of the said parties, either themselves personally or by their guardians aforesaid, into full & peaceable possession of their said respective parts as aforesaid so aforesaid to be assigned; & that thereupon you immediately return a general plat of the said lands so assigned, with a certificate thereon in writing under your hands and seals describing the manner in which you have made division & partition aforesaid, unto the Clerk [hole in the paper] of the Court of Common Pleas in & for [the] District of Lancaster [hole]. > > And in case the said land cannot in your opinion be fairly & equally divided between the parties interested therein as aforesaid, without manifest injury to them or some or one of them, then & in that case you make a special return of the whole said tract or plantation, & the value thereof truly appraised & certified, & certify your opinion to the said Court, whether it will be most for the benefit of the said parties to deliver to one or more of them of the parties interested the said tract or plantation which cannot be fairly divided, upon the payment of a sum of money by you to be assessed, or to sell the same at public auction. > > And have you then this writ before the Clerk of the said Court fifteen days next before the sitting of the said Court - Witness the Honorable E. H. Bay Esq^r Senior Associate Judge of the said State, at Lancaster Court House, the first Monday after the fourth Monday in March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & twenty three, and in the forty seventh year of the Sovereignty & Independence of the United States of America. > > William Clinton > Pro. Com[?] > > [Left margin of PDF p. 5, written vertically:] W^m McKenna [Clk?] *[The name "Halcott" in the assignment of shares is written above the line, over a struck-out word. In the list of heirs, "[Henry] Vincent" falls on a torn fold; Henry is supplied from the assignment of shares, which names him. The first name read "David" is written in a cramped hand and could also be "Paul." The phrase about the heirs of Thomas Vincent is written as a separate, faint line inserted above the text. The writ names five commissioners; the return is signed by three.]* --- **PDF p. 2 (and p. 3) - Return of the commissioners, 24 October 1823** > State of S^o Carolina } > [Lan]caster District } > > By a writ of partition of the honourable court of said State & District to the subscribers directed and authorising us as commissioners to view appraise and divide (a certain Plantation or track of Land which Ann Vincent late of said State & District dec^d was possessed of at [struck: her death] the time of her death) Equally between the lawful heirs of the said dec^d and make a return thereof to the said Court. > > Persuant to the said writ and by the athority of the same we the subscribers did convene on the twenty fourth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & twenty three [on the] premises of the said dec^d, which plantation or track of land lies on the waters of Waxhaw Creek in said State & District bounding & butting on the North & East by Lands of Thomas Cureton, on the South by Lands of John M^cCardle & Allen Hood, on the West by Benjamin Massey's Land, containing by estimation one hundred & thirty three acres more or less; and after being qualified as the law directs did enter on and view the said lands with all their appertainances of the said dec^d, and valued the same to Seven hundred & ninety eight Dollars. > > And it is the opinion of your Commissioners that the said land cannot be divided amongst the Legatees of said Ann Vincent dec^d without material injury to all of them. And to vest the said premises in one or more of the Legatees by their paying over a sum of money to the other legatees, in the opinion of your commissioners is inexpedient, because the timber on the Lands is nearly all cut down; therefore we are of opinion that it will be to the benefit of all the said legatees that the said plantation with all its appertainances be sold at publick auction in order to sattisfy the demands against the said Ann Vincent, as she by will conveyed away all the personable property she was possessed of. > > In witness we have hereunto set our hands this 24^th day of October 182[3] > > James Massey } > Tho^s Cureton } Commissioners > John Crawford } *[The year at the end of the return is partly lost in a tear; the date of the meeting in the text is 1823. "more or less" and "timber on the" are written above the line. James Massey's signature is hidden in the fold on p. 2 and shows on p. 3.]* --- **PDF p. 1 - Docket on the back of the return** > Roll [struck: 75 [?]] 8 > > Halcott Evans et ux. > v } Commissioners Return > Henry Vincent et al > > B15 R 535 > > Filed 4^th Nov^r 1823 > > Clk fees p^d by Pltff [?]