Essie Sarver, et al
vs
Lou & Dock Bracken
1916

Source:  TSL&A Microfilm A 5078
Loose Record #4975

Submitted by Jan J. Barnes
© 2004

Depositions from the following witnesses:  Essie Sarver, Ada Butt, Jim Senter, Dock Bracken, Fletcher Adams, Z. T. Key, J. B. Malone, Ed White, Wes Taylor, Tas Robertson, Abraham Parker, John M. Oglesby, Lucinda Bracken, Aaron Hanna, Bill Wallace, Rufus Horton and Edna Horton.

To the Honorable J. W. Stoutt, Chancellor etc., holding the Chancery Court for Sumner County at Gallatin Tennessee

The Bill of Complaint of Essie Sarver and Ada Butt, Residents of Sumner County, Herschel Sarver, Resident of Kentucky and John Oglesby, Resident of the State of Indiana,
vs.
Lou Brackin and Husband, Dock Brackin, and Dock Brackin Administrator of the Estate of Julia Oglesby, deceased, Residents of Sumner County, Tennessee, Defendants

Complainants would respectfully show to the Court:
That defendants, Lou Brackin and Dock Brackin filed their petition in the County Court of Sumner County, heretofore to wit, on the 10th day of February, 1916, for the sale for partition of certain tracts of land, lying and being situate in said county, two of which said tracts, designated in the bill as tracts Nos. 1 & 2 are alleged to have belonged to Austin Oglesby, deceased, the deeds to which are made exhibits to the said petition, marked Ex. "A" & "B", and the third tract, belonging to Julia Oglesby, deceased, the deed to which is made exhibit to the said bill, marked Ex. "C".  The description of the said tracts of land in the said petition are assumed to be correct and a copy of the said bill will be filed herewith on the hearing and made a part hereof marked Ex. "A", but need not be copied.

The said petition further alleges that the said Austin Oglesby died in Sumner County, Tennessee, on the (left blank) day of (left blank) and left surviving him, his widow, Julia Oglesby, and the following children:  (1)Lou Oglesby, who married Dock Brackin, (2) Callie Oglesby, who married Dick Butt, who died since, leaving surviving him one child, viz Ada Butt, (3) John Oglesby, (4) Mila Oglesby, who married Bill Sarver, who died leaving surviving her two children, viz, Essie Sarver and Herschel Sarver; that the said widow died on the (left blank) day of January, 1915, seized and possessed of certain tracts of land described in the bill and also the interest of John Oglesby in tracts No. 1 & 2, which she purchased from the said John Oglesby on April 8th, 1903, as per deed of record in Deed Book # (left blank), page (left blank) R. C. S. C., the said deed being filed as exhibit "C" to the said bill and the said interest conveyed thereby being a 1/2 thereof.  The said bill alleges that this is an error and that in fact the said interest conveyed by John Oglesby is a one fourth.

The said petition alleges further that the said parties are the owners of the said tracts of land or have interest therein as tenants in common or otherwise in the following proportions:  In tracts Nos. 1 & 2, John Oglesby owns a 1/15th by inheritance from his mother, Julia Oglesby; Lou Brackin owns a 1/4th by inheritance from her father, Austin Oglesby, and a 1/16th by inheritance from her mother; Ada Butt owns a 1/4th by inheritance from her father and a 1/16th by inheritance from her grandmother, Julia Oglesby; Essie Sarver and Herschel Sarver each own a 1/8th plus a 1/32 inherited in the same manner.  It is alleged further that in the tract of land purchased by Julia Oglesby from J. F. Davis and wife, they own interests as follows:  John Oglesby, Lou Brackin and Ada Butt each a 1/4th and Herschel and Essie Sarver each a 1/8th.

The said petition alleges further that the said tracts of land are worth about (left blank), are not near any town and are adapted exclusively to farming and that on account of the number of shares it would be manifestly to the advantage of the parties that it be sold for partition instead of partitioned in kind; that there are not any encumbrances on the said lands known to the complainants; complainants pray for sale of the said lands and that the proceeds thereof be distributed among the parties according to their interests, etc.

Your complainants would show further that the allegation in the said bill that Lou Brackin is a child of Austin Oglesby is incorrect and without foundation in fact.  The fact is that Lou was born several years before the marriage of Austin to Julia and that the said Austin and Julia at no time claimed or contended that Lou was the child of Austin but that she was the child of a certain white man in Macon County.  It is a self evident fact, of which your Honor may take notice from an exhibition of said Lou and complainants before the court, that there is a great disparity of color between Lou and complainants and said Lou Brackin being a light mulatto and the complainants being as black as Stygian darkness.  (Said Lou will be exhibited on the hearing of this cause if your Honor should so order, and marked Exhibit "B", but not to be copied)  This being true your complainants are advised that the said Lou would not be entitled to participate in a distribution of the proceeds of the sale of said lands belonging to the said Austin Oglesby and that your Honor's court and not the County Court of Sumner, is the proper tribunal for the adjudication of such controversies, wherefore this bill.

Your complainant would further show that they themselves are the sole heirs and distributees at law of the said Austin Oglesby; that it was never contemplated by defendants Dock Brackin, generally known as "Senator", that said Lou Brackin would participate in the distribution of the estate of Austin Oglesby, in fact the "Senator" has often been heard to boast that his wife, Lou, a "white man's nigger" was not a sister of complainants and that she would not be entitled to share in the estate of the said Austin Oglesby and it was an exhibition of the boldest audacity on the part of defendants to undertake to have said land sold for partition by the County Court of Sumner County when all the parties are sui juris, none of whom are under any disabilities whatever and are fully capable of executing a deed to the purchaser of the said lands.

Your complainants would further show that defendant, Lou Brackin, is entitled to share in the distribution of the property of her mother, Julia Oglesby, as shown in the said petition to be the interest of John Oglesby in the two said tracts of land described in the bill and also the tract owned by Julia Oglesby individually, but the interest of John Oglesby at the time of its conveyance to his mother was not a fourth, as alleged in the petition, nor a half as shown in the deed, but a third and now the interest of the parties of the lands owned by Austin Oglesby are as follows:  John Oglesby 1/12th by inheritance from his mother; Ada Butt a 1/3d by inheritance from her grandfather and a 1/12th by inheritance from her grandmother; Essie Sarver and Herschel Sarver each a 1/6th by inheritance from Austin Oglesby and a 1/24th by inheritance from Julia Oglesby;  Lou Brackin a 1/12th by inheritance from her mother.  The interests of the parties in the tract of land described in the bill as belonging to Julia Oglesby purchased by her from Dorris, are correctly stated in the said bill.

Your complainants would further show that before the death of the said Julia Oglesby she was living on her place in the 12th Civil District of Sumner County about 20 miles from Gallatin where she had resided peacibly and happily for a great many years, but that just a few weeks before her death the said "Senator" Brackin went to her with two wagons and removed her and all her personal property to his home in Gallatin, explaining that he was very solicitous of the welfare of his mother-in-law and wished to have her spend the last few days of her life in his "elegant city home", as he expressed it and although she was at the time in a very weakened and enfeebled condition, just on the brink of the grave, and unable to be removed, and although she expressed herself as being opposed to moving to the home of the "Senator", saying that she wished to die in her own home and that she had tried unsuccessfully to live for only a few days at the time in the home with the said Dock Brackin, and that she did not wish to be taken to his home.  Nevertheless the said Brackin, by some contrivance peculiar to politicians of the "gum shoe" type to which class he belongs, succeeded in loading the said mother in law on a wagon, together with all her household and kitchen furniture, the contents of the meat house and of the barn, in fact every thing of any value that Julia possessed, and hauled them in bulk to his elegant home in the said Gallatin.  At the time this was done one of your complainants, Ada Butt, was living with her grand mother, Julia, where she had been for many years and she and her grand mother were very devoted to each other and she joined her said grand mother in protesting against the said action of the said Brackin, but all to no avail, and the said Brackin left this complainant in the said house without provisions, furniture, fuel, beds, bed clothing, destitute of every thing save the few clothing she had on her person.

Your complainants would further show that before the demise of the said Julia and while she yet lingered on her death bed the said Brackin sought and advised with counsel as to how to proceed as administrator of estates and more especially the estate of his mother-in-law, saying that he was going to administer her estate, and just as soon after her death as decency permitted, he had himself appointed as administrator and executing a bond in the sum of $100.00 proceed with the administration of the said estate.  Complainants say that defendant Brackin, administrator, has made no inventory of the said property taken from the house of the deceased but has converted all of same to his own use and claims the ownership of same under some groundless pretext.  Complainants do not undertake to say that the motive of the said Brackin in removing the said Julia was mercenary, of course that motive was pure, and guileless, supported by a seal to make soft the death pillow of his beloved mother in law, but your complainants are at a loss to explain the conduct of the said Brackin in converting all the said personal property belonging to her at the time of her death, to his own use.

Your complainants insist that they are entitled to participate in the distribution of this property; that the said Brackin, administrator should be required to make an inventory and account to the court for all of the personal property owned by the said Julia Oglesby at the time of her death.

Your complainant would show, alleged in the said petition in the County Court that the said lands are not near any town, are adapted exclusively to farming and stock raising and because of the number of interests cannot be partitioned in kind to advantage, therefore,

Premises seen and considered complainants pray that proper process issue and be served on the defendants commanding them to come into court and answer this bill but not under oath, that being expressly waived; that an injunction issue and be served on defendants enjoining them from proceeding further with their cause for partition in the said County Court and that they be taxed up with the costs of their unwarranted cause in said court; that all the necessary references to the Clerk and Master be had and more especially for proof as to who are the lawful heirs of the said Austin Oglesby deceased; that in any event the lands herein described be sold on terms of one third cash, balance in one and two years with interest and lien retained etc.; that the rights of the parties be declared by decree of this court in and to the lands prayed to be sold and that the proceeds of the said sale be distributed among the said parties according to their several interests; that the said Dock Brackin be required to make an inventory of the articles of personal property belonging to the said Julia Oglesby at the time he removed her from her home; that the defendants be required to deliver to the clerk of this court or his agent all the property which has come into his possession or into the possession of either of them from the estate of the said Julia Brackin; that the Clerk and Master be authorized to advertise and sell the said property and distribute the proceeds thereof among the distributees of the said Julia Oglesby and that the said Dock Brackin, administrator be enjoined form proceeding further as such administrator in the county court but that he be required to account to the Clerk an Master of this court for all collections and disbursements as such administrator etc.

Complainants pray for all other, further, general and special relief to which they may be entitled on the hearing.

Murry & Denning

State of Tennessee
Sumner County.
Come Essie Sarver, Hershel Sarver, and Ada Butt, complainants in the foregoing bill and make oath in due form of law that the facts and things stated in the foregoing bill stated of their own knowledge are true and those stated on information they believe to be true.
Essie A. Sarver
Hershel Sarver
Subscribed and sworn to
before me this the 16th day of
March 1916.
J. E. Perdue
We are security for the costs of this cause.
Essie A. Sarver
Hershel Sarver
Murry & Denning,

Essie Sarver et al
vs.
Lou Brackin et al
This cause came on to be heard this the 16th day of November, 1916 before the Hon. J. W. Stout, Chancellor, upon the pleadings and proof and exhibits thereto, and upon the entire record in the cause, and it appearing to the court from the proof that the defendant, Lou Brackin, is a daughter of Austin Oglesby and his wife, Julia Oglesby, and that Austin and Julia Oglesby were married while in a state of slavery and prior to the commencement of the Civil War; that defendant Lou Brackin was born while said parties were living in a state of slavery and prior to the commencement of said civil war, and that she is a legitimate child of said Austin Oglesby and wife, Julia Oglesby, and one of their lawful heirs.

And it further appearing to the court that said Austin Oglesby died several years ago seized and possessed in fee of the following described tracts of land, to wit:

Tract No. 1 - Situated in civil district No. 11 of Sumner County, Tennessee, on the waters of Rogues Fork of Bledsoe Creek and bounded as follows:
Beginning at an elm in the hollow; thence N. 61 degrees E. 24 1/4 poles to a gum; thence N. 9 1/2 degrees W. 20 1/4 poles to an Elm; thence N. 41 3/4 degrees W. 38 poles to a Sassafras; thence S. 16 1/4 W. 21- 48/100 poles to a beech; thence S. 41 W. 12 poles to an oak stump; thence S. 36 1/2 W. 16 poles to a Beech; thence S. 24 1/2 W 27 poles to a planted rock; thence N. 78 E. 8 poles to a stake; thence N. 60 E 4 poles to a stake in the corner of the fence; thence N. 67 degrees E. 23 poles; thence N. 23 E 3 3/4 poles to a stake thence S. 64 E 2 poles to a beech; thence S. 47 degrees E. 34 poles to an elm; thence N. 73 1/2 E. 10 poles to a stake; thence N. 49 E 20 poles to a stake, thence N. 76 E. 15 poles to the beginning, containing forty one and two thirds acres, more or less, and being the same land conveyed to Austin Oglesby by J. B. Hanna on November 18th, 1892 by deed of record in Deed Book 44, P. 350 R.O.S.C.

Tract No. 2 - Situated in the 12th Civil district of Sumner County, Tennessee, and bounded as follows:
Beginning on George Colliers N. E. corner; thence east with said line 3 1/2 poles to a stake in Joe Bruces line; thence N. with said line 80 poles to J. F. Witham's corner; thence west 6 poles to a stake; thence S. 80 poles to the beginning, supposed to be three and one fourth acres, more or less, it being the same land conveyed to Austin Oglesby on October 23rd, 1894 by William Witham and wife by deed of record in Deed Book 44, page 351 R.O.S.C.

And that the said Julia Oglesby died on the (left blank) day of January, 1916 seized and possessed in fee of the following described tract of land, to with:

Situated in the 12th civil district of Sumner County, Tennessee, and bounded as follows:  On the north by Witham; on the east by Witham; on the south by Collier, and on the west by Key, containing 28 acres, more or less, it being the same land conveyed to her on October 30th, 1899 by J. F. Dorris and wife, by deed of record in Deed Book 49, p. 252 R.O.S.C.

And it further appearing that said Austin Oglesby left surviving him his widow, the said Julia Oglesby (now deceased) and the following children and grand children, to-wit:

1 - Lou Brackin, wife of Dock Brackin
2 - Callie Oglesby, who married Dick Butt, and died leaving surviving her one child, viz:  Ada Butt;
3 - John Oglesby
4 - Mila Oglesby, who married Bill Sarver, and who died leaving surviving her two children, viz:  Essie Sarver and Herschel Sarver.

And it further appearing that on April 8, 1903 said John Oglesby sold and conveyed to his mother, Julia Oglesby, his one fourth interest in the two tracts of land owned by Austin Oglesby, deceased, by deed of record in Deed Book (left blank), page (left blank) R.O.S.C.

And it appearing to the court that the parties to this cause were the owners of said tract of land, or had interests therein as tenants in common in the following proportions:

In tract No's. 1 and 2 owned by Austin Oglesby as aforesaid, John Oglesby owned a one sixteenth by inheritance from his mother, Julia Oglesby; Lou Brackin owns a one fourth by inheritance from her father and a 1/16 by inheritance from her mother.  Ada Butt owns a one fourth by inheritance from Austin Oglesby, and a one sixteenth by inheritance from Julia Oglesby.  Essie Sarver and Herschel Sarver each own a one eighth plus a one thirty-second inherited in the same manner.

That in the tract of land purchased by Julia Oglesby from J. F. Dorris and wife as above described the parties own interests as follows:  John Oglesby, one fourth, Lou Brackin, one fourth, Ada Butt, one fourth, Essie Sarver, one eighth and Herschel Sarver one eighth.

And it further appearing that said three tracts of land have been sold for partition under the decree of the court made at a former term, and that said lands were sold for the sum of $845.00 and that said sale has been confirmed.

It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the rights and interests of the parties in the funds arising from the sale of said lands are as above set out in this decree, and their rights and interests therein are adjudged and settled accordingly, and the share of each party being as above set out.

And it further appearing to the court that said Julia Oglesby prior to her death, gave to the defendant Lou Brackin, all of the personal property removed by said defendant, Lou Brackin, from the home of her mother, the said Julia Oglesby, consisting of 1 cow, 2 bedsteads, 1 washstand, 1 dresser, 1 set of chairs, 1 sewing machine, 1 rocker, 1 small table, 1 candlestick, and some bed clothing, and that said articles are now the property of defendant, Lou Brackin.

And it further appearing that on March 5, 1916 defendant, Dock Brackin, qualified as administrator of the estate of Julia Oglesby, deceased, and that he as such administrator has filed his inventory in this case showing the assets of said estate, to consist of one note for $12.00 against Howard White, which has been reduced to judgment before G. N. Guthrie, J. P., and one account for $8.00 against Jim Senter, col., both of which are probably worthless, and also the sum of $17.70 collected by said administrator from the United States, same being the balance due on a pension claim; and it further appearing that the burial expenses of said Julia Oglesby amounted to the sum of $70.00, and were a just debt against her estate, and that said burial expenses wee paid by defendant, Dock Brackin, and the creditors to whom same were paid, to-wit, C. L. Crowder and E. F. Jones, have transferred said accounts to Dock Brackin, and directed the court to pay same to him.

It therefore appeared to the court that said estate of Julia Oglesby is insolvent, and that it is necessary to subject a sufficient amount of the funds arising from the sale of the land owned by Julia Oglesby to the payment of the amount due defendant, Dock Brackin, on account of said burial expenses, to-wit, $70.00 less $17.70 collected by him on said pension leaving the balance due said Brackin the sum of $52.30 and the Clerk & Master is hereby ordered to pay said sum to said Brackin in satisfaction of his said claim against her estate, and also the sum of $3.00 same being the cost of his qualification as administrator in the County Court.

And it further appearing that prior to the filing of the bill in this cause, defendant, Dock Brackin and Lou Brackin, had filed a petition in the County Court of Sumner County, for the purpose of having said land sold for partition, in which they recognized the rights and interests of all the heirs of Austin and Julia Oglesby, and that the further prosecution of said suit in the County Court was enjoined by the bill in this cause.

It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that complainant's bill be dismissed insofar as it seeks to establish the illegitimacy of defendant, Lou Brackin, and deny her right to inherit from Austin Oglesby, deceased, and insofar as it seeks to compel defendant, Dock Brackin, administrator, to account for the personal property removed by him from the home of Julia Oglesby, and which had been given to his wife by said Julia Oglesby prior to her death, and insofar as same charges fraud on the part of defendant, Dock Brackin, Administrator, and seeks to compel him to account, be and the same is hereby dismissed at the cost of complainants, and all the costs of the cause which have accrued on account of said issues are ordered paid out of the share of complainants, in the proceeds of sale of said land, and the costs of the suit in the County Court as aforesaid, will be paid out of the general funds.

Out of the proceeds of the sale of said lands, the Clerk & Master will first pay the costs of the cause, including a fee of $25.00 to Murrey & Denning, solicitors for complainants, and a fee of $25.00 to Baskerville, Collier & McGlothlin, solicitors for defendants, and the balance will be paid to the parties in accordance with their respective rights as set out in this decree.

The cause will be retained in court pending the collection of the purchase money notes executed by the purchaser for said land.

The C & M will pay the shares of the respective parties when collected to said parties or their solicitors, of record in this cause.

Essie Sarver, et al
vs.
Lou Bracken, et al.
Depositions for complainant, taken August 17th 1916.
The first witness, Essie Sarver, being sworn, said
Q 1  State your age, and residence?
A     I am 35.  Live at Brackentown.
Q 2  Are you married or single?
A     Single.
Q 3  Have you any brothers and sisters, if so, who?
A     One brother, Hershall Sarver.
Q 4  Who was your mother?
A      Mila Oglesby
Q 5  What relation are you and Hershall to Austin and Julia Oglesby deceased?
A     Grandchildren.
Q 6  Then your mother was a daughter of Austin and Julia Oglesby.
Q 7  Did your mother have any other children, if so, name them?
A     Yes sir.  Henry Sarver, Hattie Sarver and Daisey Sarver.  They are all dead, with out issue.
Q 8  Do you know when your grandfather Austin Oglesby died?
A     No, I don't remember the date, I reckon its been 15 years.
Q 9  Did he own any land at the time of his death in Sumner County?
A     Yes
Q10 What property did he own?
A      I don't know just the number of acres, it was estimated at 70 some odd acres, I reckon.
Q11 Where was this land, and where did your grandfather live at the time of his death?
A      It was over near Witha, joins Witham.  He lived there.
Q12 What other children did your grandfather have?
A      John Oglesby, Ann Oglesby, Zola Oglesby, and Cally Oglesby.
Q13  Is John Oglesby living, if so, where?
A      Yes sir, Indianapolis, Ind.
Q14  Is Ann Oglesby living? and if not when did she die, and did she die without issue or not?
A      She is dead.  I don't know when she died.  She died without issue.
Q15  Is Zola Oglesby living, and if not when did she die, and state whether or not she died without issue?
A      She is not living, and neither did she leave any issue.  I don't know when she died.
Q16  Is Callie Oglesby dead or living, and if dead, did she leave issue?
A      She is dead, and left one heir, Ada Butt, a complainant in this lawsuit.
Q17  Then Ada butt, John Oglesby, and Hershall Sarver and you are the sole heirs and distributees at law of              Austin Oglesby, is that correct?
A      Yes sir.
Q18  Who is Lou Bracken?
A       I don't know whose she is, I have heard though that she wasn't grandpa's.
Answer excepted to.
Q19  Is Lou Bracken a daughter of Julia Oglesby?
A      Yes sir.
Q20  But it is your understanding that she is not a daughter of Austin Oglesby?
A      Yes sir.
Excepted to.
Q21  I'll ask you then from what source did you get this understanding?
A      My mother always said she was her half sister.
Q22  Was your mother the only one that you ever heard say anything about it?
A       No, I have heard others say she wasn't Grandpa's child.  Uncle Lal and Wes Copeley, an Jim Senters, and Elmire Hann and Harriett Adams, and Harriett Senters and Abe Parker, and I have heard I don't know how many more, different ones say it.
Exception by Defendant
Q23  I'll ask you whether or not you ever heard Dock Bracken or Lou Bracken or either of them claim that Aunt Lou was a daughter of Austin Oglesby?
A      Yes sir, I heard Uncle Dock say the day that he carried me up to Lawyer Baskerville's office, that he had never heard that she wasn't an heir, and I told him that I had never heard anyone say that she was.
Q24  I'll ask you whether or not all of the heirs of Austin Oglesby and all of the heirs of Julia Oglesby are of age?
A      They are.
Q25  Do you know any reason why Dock Bracken and Aunt Lou should have employed lawyers and incurred additional expense of filing a petition in the County Court of Sumner County, asking for the sale for partition of the lands belonging to the heirs of Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby?
A      He just told me this, that grandma gave Aunt Lou everything, and that he had employed two of the best lawyers in Gallatin, and that if me and Uncle John and the rest wanted to try to get any of it, that all the devils in hell couldn't get it, that Gran was going to stand by them.
Q26  Who is Gran?
A      That's Uncle Doc's son.
Q27  I will ask you whether or not you and the other heirs of Austin Oglesby were willing and ready at all times and are now willing and ready for a sale for partition of these lands for a proper distribution among the heirs entitled to same, without a decree of the Court?
A      I can't speak for Uncle John, because I can't hear from him, but the rest of them are.
Q28  I will ask you whether or not when Dock Bracken proposed to file a bill in the County Court to sell this land, he urged or asked you to join with him, and that you and he and Lou would gobble up everything, or words to that effect?
Excepted to as leading.
A      He didn't say that, but he did say that his lawyers said, for you and Aunt Lou go into together, and file suit against the rest of them, and I said no, I wouldn't do that; he said it would be cheaper to let one lawyer do the business for both of you.  I told him no, as my brother wasn't here I wouldn't do that, that I would wait and see my brother, and I guessed we would employ some other lawyer.  He said you all are willing to sell and I said yes, and he said just get one lawyer and it will come cheaper, and I said no, I will talk to my brother, and I think he has got a lawyer, and he said you have done wrong.  I said I didn't mean to, and he said I haven't got time to talk any more if you are not going to do anything, and I said, well I didn't employ you to talk for me, and he said then that he would go on and sue with Aunt Lou.
Q29  Did your grandmother have any personal property at the time of her death?
A      She did.
Q30  Did she make any will?
A      Not that I have ever heard of.
Q31  Do you know what personal property she had?
A      I don't know just the amount she had, but she had plenty of household furniture, I don't know how many pieces of each piece, but she was well fixed up.
Q32  Where was she at the time she died?
A      She was at Uncle Dock's I understood, had been moved from her home down to Uncle Dock's.
Q33  State the circumstance of her moving, who moved her and how long before her death?
A      She was moved by Uncle Dock and her daughter Lou, so I heard, I wasn't there.  And was moved a week and 4 days, as I heard, before she died.
Q34  Where was this household effects and personal property at the time of her death?
A      They moved everything with her when they moved her.
Q35  Do you still claim an interest in this personal property as the heir of Julia Oglesby?
A      I certainly do.
Q36  Did you ever hear your grandmother say that she wanted Julia Bracken or Dock Bracken to have all of her personal property at her death?
A      No, I did not.
Q37  You have stated that Uncle Dock and Aunt Lou moved her down here to Gallatin to Dock's home about a week and four days before her death,  I will ask you how they brought her, and how far is it from where she lived to Gallatin, and what was her condition at the time, and what was the condition of the road over which they hauled her?
A      The roads were in about as bad a condition, I reckon as they are any time during the winter, and I am told that she was in a very low state, and didn't want to come, but she couldn't help herself.  In a hack I think they told me.  I don't know how far it is, 10 or 12 miles or more I guess; and very rough and hilly, too, up there where she lived.  Uncle Dock told me that he brought her against his will, that he didn't want to bring her, but that she kept begging, until he consented to bring her.
Q38  Who was living in the house with Aunt Julia at the time she was taken sick and until she was moved to Gallatin?
A      Her grand daughter, Ada Butts, had been with her for 16 or 18 years.
Cross examination
Q 1  You say her granddaughter, Ada Butt, was living with her--what family, if any, has Ada Butt?
A      I don't know how many children she has, four or five.
Q 2   Did Ada's husband live there also?
A      No sir, she didn't have any husband.
Q 3  She has never been married at any time?
A      No sir.
Q 4  How long had it been since you saw her grand mother prior to her death?
A     About a year.
Q 5  Did you attend her burial?
A     No sir, I didn't, I didn't know she was dead until my father came back and told me.  He got a telephone and thought it was his nephew that was to be buried, and when he got there it was my grandmother.
Q 6  Don't you know that you hadn't seen your grandmother or been to her house for 3 or 4 years before her death?
A     I do know better, and quite sure I know better.
Q 7  If Lou Bracken stayed with her for several months before her death at her home you know nothing about this?
A     I know nothing about it but that she said she stayed there.  My father said she was there when he went to see her.
Q 8  How is it that you can state that Dock Bracken and Lou Bracken moved away all of her personal property when they brought her to Gallatin, if you were not there?
A     Because I went immediately after that and it was all gone, and parties said that they moved it away, and they helped load it.
Q 9  You got very busy investigating her property as soon as she died, didn't you?
A     I went immediately over there, after I heard how they had taked everything away, and left this granddaughter there without everything, and I found her there, with nothing but her children, and some rags.
Q10  You found no furniture in the house?
A      One little bed stead, she said was her mothers, and a bureau, which she said they wouldn't take--they took the glass out of it, and some chairs which she said were her mothers, and a stove and a safe which she said was her mothers.
Q11  Did you see any kitchen furniture and table ware?
A      No sir.  I didn't see any--yes I did see two or three old cups and saucers, which she said were her mothers.
Q12  All you know in regard to what they moved away was what you heard about it?
A      Yes, as to the amount, but I know she had plenty of stuff there, but as to the amount, number of pieces I don't know.  I know she had plenty and nice things at that.
Q13  After you went over and investigated as to the personal property at her house, what did you then do?
A      Came back home.
Q14  Didn't you come to Gallatin and have the records examined in regard to the real estate?
A      I did last fall, way afterwards, after Uncle Doc sent for me to come and see about the estate.
Q15  You are considerably younger than Lou Bracken, are you?
A      Indeed so.
Q16  And all that you have stated in regard to whether or not she is a daughter of Austin Oglesby is simply what you have heard, isn't it?
A      Sure it is, yes sir.  Of course I don't know.
Q17  You have all of your live recognized her as your aunt, haven't you?
A      She is, I have.
Q18  How old were you when your mother died?
A      I don't know exactly 10 or 11 or maybe 12 years old.
Q19  You stated that you had heard Wess Copely and others say that she wasn't your grandpa's child--they told you that was what they had heard, is that correct?
A      Uncle Lal and Uncle Wess Copely told me that Granpa never did recognize her as his child.
Q20  When did they tell you that?
A      They told me that last fall, and they told me that the other day.
Q21  Then they told you that since this lawsuit began?
A      Yes I was talking about Aunt Lou trying to hold everything, and they volunteered and told me, said why, she can't get anything, she is not an heir.  I told them that I had heard my mother say she wasn't that she was only a half sister of hers.
Q22  You have searched and travelled all over the country from Gravelly hill to Robertson County, trying to find a witness who would swear that Lou Bracken was not a child of Austin Oglesby, haven't you?
A      No I did not do that--Uncle Dock said that I would have to prove that she wasn't his child, and I went over to Bethpage to my grandmothers home there, and inquired, and they referred me to other people, and I went to see them, and they all told me that she wasn't--you could look at her and see that she is not, doesn't look like any of the other children.
Q23  You base your opinion then that she is not a child of Austin Oglesby on the fact that she is not the same color as her brothers and sisters, is that it?
A      No that isn't it, my opinion is on account of that I have always heard that she wasn't his child.
Q24  Were Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby married?
A      I don't know that.  I don't know whether they was married or was married in slavery--I neer did hear that.
Q25  They were your grandparents, were they?
A      Yes sir.
Q26  Do you know when Lou Bracken was born?
A      No sir.   Uncle Abe Parker said he didn't remember perfectly, but he thought she was born before they were married.
Latter part of answer excepted to.
Essie A. Sarver

Ada Butt, the next witness, being duly sworn, said:

Q 1  State your age, and residence?
A     About forty.  Live the edge of Bethpage.
Q 2  Who was your mother?
A      Callie Oglesby
Q 3  Are you the only heir of your mother?
A     I am the only child.
Q 4  How long has your mother been dead?
A     I don't know, she died when I was young.
Q 5  Do you know when your Grandmother Julia Oglesby died?
A     I don't know when she died.
Q 6  About how long ago?
A     About a year.
Q 7  Where were you living when she died?
A      I was living with her.
Q 8  You mean that you were living there in the house where she lived until she was brought to Doc Bracken's?
A      Yes sir.
Q 9  How long had you been living there?
A      About 16 years.
Q10  What did you do there?
A      I cooked, washed, ironed, milked, toted wood and water and made fires, and waited on my grandmother.  I was there night and day.
Q11  What household property did your grandmother have at the time of her death?
A      She had a whole lot in the house, I don't know what all she did have.
Q12  Did all of the furniture and house hold effects belong to her, or did you own part of them?
A      All of them was hern but a few things.
Q13  What became of those things that were hers?
A      Uncle Dock Bracken got them.
Q13  Can you state what Uncle Dock got?
A      I can state part, I can't state everything.
Q14  State what you can?
A      Got corn, about a barrel or a barrel and a half; fodder; two hams of meat, 1/2 middling of meat; molasses; flour; meal;
Q15  Did he get any furniture?
A      Yes he got all the furniture except a few things he didn't want, he left them there for me.
Q16  Did he leave anything there for you to eat?
A      No sir--I have been working for something to eat ever since he took everything away from me.
Q17  Did he take these things before or after the death of your grandmother?
A      When he took grandma off he took everything out of the house, except a few things he left.
Q18  Was your grandmother willing to be taken away?
A      No sir, she cried because she had to go.  She didn't want to go, she told me she didn't want to go.
Q19  Did your grandmother give these things to Lou or Dock Bracken while she was there?
A      No sir, if she give them to them  she didn't say anything about it--she didn't tell me she did.
Q20  Did she ever say to you that she wanted you to have your part of these things?
A      Yes sir, she said she wanted me to have some of them.
Q21  Had she already given you part of these things?  If so what?
A      Yes sir.  She give me some quilts, and Aunt Lou found it out and she took them away from me.
Q22  Give you a sewing machine?
A      A sewing machine, and she took that away from me.
Q23  You say she left a few things, that Dock left a few things, and that they were things that were no account, and that he didn't want?
A    Yes sir.
Q24  Did you have or have you a husband or anybody to help you care for your children?
A      No sir.
Q25  Did Dock Bracken sell anything before Aunt Julia's death?
A      Sold a cow.
Q26  Did he sell anything else that you know of?
A      I don't know that he sold anything else except the cow.
Q27  How much did he get for the cow?
A      I don't know.
Q28  Was that the only cow you all had there?
A      We had two--he brought one down here with her.
Q29  Do you know Aunt Lou Bracken?
A      She is my Aunt.  I've been knowing her since I was a little kid.  They told me, and I reckon she is my aunt.

Cross Examination
Q 1  You stated that Dock Bracken sold a cow--was that before Julia came to Gallatin or after?
A      Before she come to Gallatin.
Q 2  Don't you know as a matter of fact that your grandmother sold this cow to Mr. Josiah Witham and that Dock Bracken simply delivered the cow to Mr. Witham for her?
A      I don't know sir whether she did or not--I never heard her say.
Q 3  You don't know whether she received the money for the cow or not, do you?
A      No sir.
Q 4  You stated that you cooked, washed, ironed, etc., while you lived there with your grandmother--you also received the support of yourself and children from her, did you not?
A      Yes sir.
Q 5  How many children have you?
A      I have got six.
Q 6  You stated that Dock Bracken took some of the household furniture when he moved Julia to Gallatin, and left some things there--do the things he left there belong to you?
A      Yes sir, some of them, and some they left there that they didn't want they left there for me, I reckon.
Q 7  What did they leave there?
A      A cooking stove and safe and old beaureau there, that they didn't want theyselves.
Q 8  You stated that Dock Bracken took away some provisions when your grandmother came to Gallatin--isn't it a fact that he furnished provisions such as flour, meat, etc., for your grandmother and you and your family to live on for several months before she died?
A      No sir, grandma furnished herself, she had money to buy what she wanted.  She was drawing money, she ought to.
Q 9  Did Dock Bracken bring provisions there for you all to use?
A      He brought for his wife I reckon, he didn't for us, for grandma had plenty of her own.
Q10  Dock's wife stayed there with your grandmother for several months before she died, and waited on her and cared for her?
A      But she didn't do it all by herself, I helped.  Aunt Lou was asleep part of the time when I was waiting on her.
Q11  You stated that your grandmother was not willing to be taken away--did you not have a letter written to Dock Bracken asking him to come and remove her to his house?
A      No sir, I never wrote it.
Q12  Did you have it written?
A      No sir.  My cousin came then, and she asked grand-ma if she wanted her to write to him, and she said she didn't care whether she wrote to him or not, and so she wrote to him.
Q13  What cousin?
A      Mamie King.
Q14  What were the articles worth that were left there on the place?
A      I don't know sir what its worth.
Q15  You stated in your original examination that you have no husband to help you care for your children--have you ever been married?
A      No sir.
Q16  Do you know who paid your grandmother's funeral expenses?
A      Guess she paid it with her own money--she had enough money to pay it-she had put enough away.
Q17  How much had she put away?
A      I don't know exactly.
Q18  Who got her money after her death?
A      They took her money when they carried her.  She had it in her trunk, I guess they carried it.
Q19  Where did she get the money she had?
A      Got it in Bethpage at the Bank.
Q20  How did she make it?
A      It come by Grandpa.  He drawed money up till he died and then Grandma drawed it.
Q21  You mean she drew a pension, if so, how much a month?
A      Yes sir, she drawed it.  $36 1/2--I tended it to for her every three months I went and got it for her.
Q22  She supported herself and you and your six children on this $12.00 a month, and had money left?
A      Yes sir.
Q23  Did you see Dock Bracken or Lou Bracken take any money away from there?
A      I ought to see it was right there.  She had part of it in a hand pocket, and Aunt Gillie Branham was standing there, and she told Aunt Gillie to watch that pocket, I reckon she thought I was going to take it.
Q24  How much money did they take?
A      I can't recollect exactly--I did know, but I have forgotten now.

Re Examination

Q 1  You were asked if your grandmother supported you and your children on this $36 and had money left--I will ask you whether or not you raised on the farm there most everything that you all used?
A      Yes sir, she rented her land out and got part of it - got a third.
Q 2  I will ask you whether or not you have a boy who helps work and support you and your grandmother?
A      Yes sir.
Q 3  Had your grandmother been saving money to bury yourself?
A      Yes sir, been saving all the time.  Didn't anybody know she had any money but me.  When she wanted money she would call me to go and get it and count it out for her, how much she wanted.
Q 4  Was it Aunt Lou that told Aunt Gillie to watch the pocket book?
A      Yes sir, I was standing right there and heard her.

Re Examination

Q 1  Do you claim all the property there in the house and on the place as yours?
A      Not on the place--the house property is mine, what is left.
Q 2  What is there on the place that is not yours?
A     The house ain't mine.
Q 3  Everything on the place except the house then is yours?
A      Yes sir.
Q 4  There is nothing there on the place then belonging to the estate of your grandmother to be turned over to Dock Bracken as administrator of her estate to be sold?
A      No sir.
Ada (her mark) Butt

The next witness, Jim Senter, being sworn, said:

Q 1  State your age, residence and occupation?
A      53 next October.  Live on Rogues Fork; Farming.
Q 2  Were you acquainted with Austin Oglesby, in their life time?
A      Yes sir, I was acquainted with them.  Aunt Julia was my own aunt.
Q 3  How far did you live from them, and how long did you live there?
A    I have been living where I do now ever since the old man brought us from the white people.  I didn't know Uncle Austin till they moved down there from Goose creek--I would see them occasionally, but wasn't personally acquainted with him till he moved down there.
Q 4  Do you remember when they moved form Goose Creek down to where you lived?
A    They didn't move down to where I live, they moved down to Dr. Woodsons, somewhere down there, but I disremember what place they went to when they came from Goose creek down here.
Q 5  Did they bring Lou Bracken with them when they moved down there?
A      Yes sir, they brought her with them.
Q 6  How long have you known Lou?
A      I have known her ever since I been any size to remember anybody.
Q 7  When you first knew her, was she older than you, and how much?
A      Oh yes sir, she was a grown young lady.
Q 8  How old were you then?
A      I don't know how old I was, but I was a great big boy, can remember all right.
Q 9  Who was the father of Lou?
A      They said it was a Carr, I think, that's been all my teaching up to now.

Excepted to.

Q10  Was this man Carr a white man or colored man?
A      Carr was a white man.
Q11  Did you know the children of Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby?
A      Yes sir.
Q12  What was the color of Austin's and Julia, and their children?
A      Dark, very dark.
Q13  What was the color of Lou?
A      She was what you would call a deep yellow--white mostly.
Q14  Were you at Julia Oglesby's on the day that Dock Bracken removed her and her household effects to Gallatin?
A    Yes sir.
Q15  Did you have a conversation with Aunt Julia on that day, if so, what was it?
A      Yes sir, I left home and went up there, and I went in, and said this is the only aunt I have and I said I'm going to go in and talk with her, well I walks around to the bed, and says to her, Aunt they is fixing to carry you away, is they; she just motioned to me, that she couldn't hear, and I put my head down a nigh her.  Well she said I have got to go away, and I replied to, that she didn't have to do, that they was enough of the younger ones to see after her like they had been doing.  She said I am weak, and I can't help my self, and I haven't got many days here anyway.  And I shook her hand and said good bye.

Excepted to by Defendants.

Q16  Did you help load the wagon to carry the household things and provender and provisions all away?
A      Yes sir.
Q17  Did they leave anything there much that was any account, or did they carry virtually everything away?
A      Every thing away that was any account.
Q18  Carry any hams away?
A      Yes sir, a couple of hams, for I had them in my own hands, and after they gave me those hams, he said, put them in the hack, underneath, and I did so.
Q19  Did they leave anything there for Ada Butt and her children to live on?
A      Cousin Dock says, here is some corn here, and told her to take a little out of the crib to carry to mill.
Q20  Do you know anything about whether Aunt Julia saved her money or not?  Was she extravagant?
A      She was very close with it.

Cross Examination

Q 1  You are not very friendly with Dock Bracken and his wife, are you?
A      If I have anything against him I don't know it.
Q 2  You are in debt to the estate of Julia Oglesby and Dock Bracken as Administrator of the estate has been trying to collect this debt from you, hasn't he?
A      No sir--have you got any papers to show that Julia Oglesby has an account against me? (To Bracken)
Q 3  Don't you owe her estate the sum of $8.00 for borrowed money?
A      I have got the note at home--Mr. Frank Earls went on the note--and I have got the note at home.
Q 4  Have you been called on to pay this money since the death of Julia Oglesby?
A      No sir.
Q 5  How often did you visit Julia Oglesby before her death?
A      I was up there every other day while she was so poorly.
Q 6  Was Dock Bracken's wife there?
A      Yes sir, she came there.  Gentlemen, may I say a word - I have been living here all my life, and if you will find any man, in all this country, on this pike, that will say I ever tried to fraud anyone, I hope I may never get out of this chair.
Q 7  You have stated that you heard that Lou Bracken's father was a white man named Carr--did you know this man Carr?
A      No sir.
Q 8  You stated that the color of Austin and Julia and their children is dark, and that Lou's color is deep yellow have you never seen any other families, where some of the children were dark and others light?
A      Yes sir, I have seen some others that were that way, but where it is so deeply struck, there is a stray foal.
Q 9  Is she your cousin?
A      Yes sir.
Q10  Do you mean to say that you think that Lou is a stray foal?
A      Well, the mark that she stands under, she must be.
Q11  What do you mean by mark?
A      Color
Q12  Were Austin Oglesby and his wife Julia Oglesby married?
A      Yes sir, so said to be.
Q13  Do you know when Lou Bracken was born?
A      No sir, she is too old.
Q14  You have seen a great many colored men with children of light color or mulatters, have you not?
A      Yes sir, I have seen them carried in their names.
Q15  It is not possible, then, in your opinion, for a colored man to have a child with any color different from his own?
A      No sir.

Jams Senter
1 day 12 miles

Essie Sarver et al
vs.
Lou Bracken et al
In this cause it appearing to the court that the bill prays for a sale for partition of the lands described therein; and it further appearing that the parties, both complainant and defendant, are all sui juris, and that the defendants are duly before the court by service of subpoena, and that they have failed their answer and join in the prayer of the bill asking for a sale of said lands for partition, it is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that said tracts of land be sold for partition and that the Clerk & Master, after advertising the sale of same for thirty days by printed hand bills, sell the same at the court house door in the town of Gallatin, Tennessee, to the highest bidder on the terms of one third cash and the balance in two equal installments, due in one and two years from date, taking notes with security, drawing interesting from date for the deferred payments, and retaining a lien on the land for further security.  Said tracts of land are described as follows:

Tract No. 1 - (See loose record for land description) Civil District No. 11 of Sumner County, Tennessee on the waters of Rogues Fork of Bledsoe Creek containing forty one and two thirds acres, more or less, and being the same land conveyed to Austin Oglesby by J. B. Hanna on November 18, 1892 by deed of record in Deed Book 44, p. 350. R. O. S. C.

Tract No. 2 (See loose record for description) Land conveyed to Austin Oglesby on October 23, 1894 by William Witham and wife, containing three and one fourth acres, Civil Dist. 12, Deed Book 44, page 351.

Tract No. 3, (See loose record for land description), 12th Civil District, containing 28 acres, conveyed to  her (her is crossed out and Lou Brackin  is written) on October 30, 1899 by J. F. Dorris and wife, Deed Book 49, page 252.

The Clerk &  Master will report his action as to the sale of said land to the next term of this court.

It is further ordered by the Court that the Master hear proof and report to the next term of this court:
1 - Who are the owners of the premises sought to be sold and the respective rights, titles and interests of the parties therein, and what share or part belongs to each.
2-  Whether there are any encumbrances on the premises not disclosed in the pleadings, and if so, what and to whom belonging.
All further questions are reserved until the incoming of said reports.

All three tracts were purchased by A. H Biggers and his wife, Bettie for $845.00.  Proceeds of the sale were held by the Clerk & Master to await final judgment.

Deposition of Dock Bracken, one of the Defendants, taken November 2nd, 1916.
The said witness, being duly sworn, said:

Q 1  State your age, residence and occupation?
A     68 years old, Gallatin. Gardner.
Q 2  Are you one of the defendants in this case?
A     Yes sir.
Q 3  How long have you been living in Gallatin?
A     13 years
Q 4  Where did you live before you moved to Gallatin?
A     Brackentown.
Q 5  How long did you live at Brackentown?
A     I was born and raised there.
Q 6  To whom did you belong before the Civil War?
A     Granville Bracken.
Q 7  Were you acquainted with Austin Oglesby colored and his wife Julia Oglesby, if so, when did you first become acquainted with them?
A      Yes sir.  Well I have heard of them all my life, but the first acquaintance I had with them was in 1858, my Master's sale.
Q 8  Where was Austin Oglesby living at that time and to whom did he belong?
A      Living at Old man Lisha Oglesby's.  Belonged to him.
Q 9  State whether or not his wife, Julia Oglesby also belonged to Lisha Oglesby at that time?
A      Yes sir.
Q10  State whether or not Austin Oglesby and his wife Julia were living together as man and wife while they were in slavery and owned by Mr. Lisha Oglesby?
A      Yes sir, they were.
Q11  You stated that you saw Austin Oglesby at your master's sale in 1858, now how many children did Austin and Julia have at that time?
A      Four.
Q12  Do you know their names, if so state them?
A      Lucinda, Callie, Mila and Ann.
Q13  Where did this sale take place that you speak of?
A      There at my master's yard, at Brackentown, in Sumner Co.
Q14  Did Austin Oglesby have his wife Julia with him on that occasion?
A      Yes sir, he had his wife with him, and his wife's mother and one child, Callie.
Q15  What relation, if any, were you to Austin Oglesby or any of his family?
A      My mother and Austin Oglesby's wife were first cousins.
Q16  State whether or not you saw Austin Oglesby and his wife Julia at other times before the Civil War, in addition to the one you have already mentioned?  If so, where?
A      Yes sir, Old man Joe Herald's, her sister lived there, belonged to him.
Q17  Where did you first become acquainted with Austin Oglesby's daughter Lucinda?
A      At her Aunt Cindy Herald's.
Q18  What was she doing at her Aunt's?
A      She was over there with her mother on a visit.
Q19  Did you afterwards marry his daughter Lucinda Oglesby, if so when?
A      Yes, 1872, Sept. 26.
Q20  Please file as Ex. A. to your deposition the paper I herewith show you, the same being a marriage certificate, issued by the Clerk of the Co. Ct. of Sumner Co., Tenn. showing that the rites of matrimony between Dock Bracken and Lucinda J. Oglesby Col. were solemnized by A. B. Denning, J. P. Sept. 26, 1872.
A      All right.
Q21  This marriage certificate which you have filed shows your wifes name at the time of her marriage to you was Lucinda J. Oglesby--is that the name by which she was always known prior to her marriage?
A      Yes sir.  No other name that ever I knew.
Q22  Who were her father and mother?
A      Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby.
Q24  State whether or not Austin Oglesby always treated her and recognized her as his child the same as his other children?
Excepted as leading.
A      I was in and out there for five years and never knowed or seed any difference.
Q25  Did you or not ever hear of any one claiming that she was not the daughter of Austin Oglesby until the bill was filed in this cause?
A      No sir, never did.
Q26  What was the color of her father, Austin Oglesby?
A      Well he was a red complected, ginger-cake colored, you couldn't tell much about his color, he always wore beard and mustache all over his face and you couldn't tell much about his color, but he was kinder an Indian color, with long hair and long beard.
Q27  Where was Austin Oglesby living at the time you married his daughter Lucinda?
A      Living at Brackentown.
Q28  Who married you?
A.      A. B. Denning.  Squire Denning.
Q29  Does your wife bear a personal resemblance to Austin Oglesby--does she favor him?
A      She is more like him that airy child he ever had.
Q30  It has been alleged in the bill filed in this cause that at different times you have boasted that your wife Lou was the daughter of a white man, and that she was not a sister of the children of Austin Oglesby, did you ever make such statement to any one?
A      No sir.  I'd a been a fool if I had, and any body that knows me knows that I ain't no natural fool.
Q31  Who has been known as recognized as your wife's father be the neighbors and people generally from the time that you first knew Austin and his family, up to the present time?
A      Nobody but Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby--every body recognized her as Austin Oglesby's daughter.
Q32  State whether Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby owned the land described in the pleadings in this cause at the time of their death?"
A    Yes sir.
Q33  Please file as exhibits B to your deposition the deed from J. F. Dorris & wife to Julia Oglesby and as Ex. C. to your deposition deed from James B. Hanna to Austin Oglesby; and Ex. D., deed from Wm. Witham and wife to Austin Oglesby?
A      I here file same.
Q34  Did Austin Oglesby live there on the land owned by him at the time of his death?
A.     Yes sir.
Q35  Where did his widow Julia live after his death?
A      She lived on the old home place--same place.
Q36  State whether or not your wife was called on at different times to go up there and wait on her during sickness?
A    Two years ago she went up there and stayed three weeks, then went back again and stayed four months, and never seed home in four months.
Q37  Did you or not hear Julia Oglesby make any statement as to what she had done with her personal property, if so, what did she say she had done with it?
A      Yes sir, Thanksgiving I was up there, and she told me that she had give Lou everything she had, that Lou had been staying there with her, and none of the other children had been near her.  That was over 2 months before she died.  And then I never heard her say anything more about what she had done with her things till she sent for me to come to move her, while I was putting up her things she told me to get everything there was out, and give Lou everything there was on the place.  I always called her mother, and I said, Mother what are you going to give Ada, and she said, I told Lou what to give Ada.  And I never said anything more about the stuff that was there.
Q38  Did she send for you to come up there and move her down to your home?
A      Yes sir, wrote to me.
Q39  Did you have any intention of moving her down to your house until she requested you to move her?
A      No sir.
Q40  Was your wife there waiting on her at the time?
A      Yes sir, had been there four months.
Q41  Did you say anything whatever to her about her property at the time you moved it, until after she had said something to you about it?
A      No sir, not a thing in the world.
Q42  About when was it you moved her to your home in Gallatin?
A      About the last week in December, 1914.
Q43  What did the property that you brought with you from her house consist of?
A      Two bed steads; bad (bed) clothing, sewing machine, set of old chairs; dresser and washstand, thats the biggest proportion of the things that was there, there was some little frivilous things that was put in that I didn't pay any attention to, and a cow.
Q44  Did you remove any of the provisions on the place?
A      I never moved a bite or nothing--I didn't know there was a bite of anything removed until after this lawsuit commenced, and we commenced a talkin, and my wife said she brought one ham--I never saw nothing.  I was sending and carrying provisions to my wife all the time she stayed up there, that I bought here at Mr. Franklins and Mr. Withams.
Q45  Something has been said by the complainants in this case about selling one of Julia's Cows and converting the money to your own use before you moved her to Gallatin--state the facts in regard to that cow?
A      Well every one in the record knows I never sold that cow, I never sold that cow, mother sold that cow.  I collected the money and paid every dollar of it to her--the cow was sold to Mr. Witham.  Three months and a half before she died, got $40.00 from Josiah Witham.
Q46  You mean you turned over the money from the sale of this cow to Julia?
A      Yes sir.
Q47  Did you ever collect any of her pension money during her life and convert it to your own use or take and convert to your own use any other property belonging to her?
A      No sir, never had a copper of her pension money in my life, while she was alive.
Q48  These articles of furniture which you say Julia gave to your wife, was it new or old furniture, and about what was the whole lot of it worth?
A      It was old furniture, very old style.  The sewing machine was second handed, I reckon a pretty good sewing machine.  That dresser and bed stead, if you were to bring them up here on the square wouldn't bring $4.00, the whole thing.  I don't know the worth of the sewing machine, but I do know the worth of the other things, for I see that kind of stuff sold here on the square.
Q49  What did you do with the cow?
A      I sold her for $20.00
Q50  When did Julia Oglesby die?
A      Jany 6, 1915.
Q51  Did you afterwards qualify as her administrator?
A      Yes sir.
Q52  I herewith hand you an inventory of the assets of her estate, made by you as her administrator, and will ask you to file same as Ex. E. to your deposition?
A      I file same.
Q53  This inventory shows 1 note against Howard White, Col., did you bring suit on that note and get judgment?
A      Yes sir, I sued and got judgment before Mr. Guthrie.
Q54  Is that judgment collectable, or do you know?
A      I can't say.  I think its worthless.
Q55  You have included herein one account against Jim Senter, col. for $8.00, is that account good or worthless?
A      Its been worthless so far, can't get the money out of him, he has promised and promised, but he ain't paid.
Q56  You have another item of $17.70 amount collected on pension, was this the blance due her on her pension at the time of her death--state the facts about that?
A      When she died there lacked a little of being 2 months back pension coming to her, the P.O. Master and them notified Mr. Murrey, and he told me, and I went to work, as administrator, and got up proof, and papers, and sent to Washington City, they paid me $24.20, the Government paid me.  I give Mr. Chitman $5.00, I couldn't get it through only by his hands, and Mr. Moore 2 seals cost me a dollar, and two witnesses cost me $1.50;
Q57  That left a net balance of $17.70?
A      That's in my hands.
Q58  Who paid Julia Oglesby's burial expenses after her death.
A      I did.
Q59  What did these expenses amount to?
A       I paid Charlie Crowder $63. for her coffin, and Mr. Ellis Jones $7.00 for two hacks.  Crowder is undertaker.
Q60  I here hand you receipt for $63.00 signed by C. L. Crowder, and receipt for $7.00 signed by Jones Livery Co. by E. F. Jones, and will ask you if these are the receipts that these parties gave you for these burial expenses, and if so, file same as Exs. F. and G. to your depositions.
A      Yes sir.
Q61  I here show you statement of E. F. Jones for $7.00 and statement of C. L. Crowder, undertaker for $63.00, both against the estates of Julia Oglesby, signed and sworn to by said parties and upon which they transfer and assign the same to you, stating that same have been paid by you, and directing the Court to pay same to you, please state if these parties transferred these accounts to you, and file same as Exs. H. and I. to your deposition?
A      Yes sir.
Q62  Was the personal property that came into your hands as Administrator sufficient to pay the debts against her estate?
A      No sir.
Q63  Will it be necessary then for the Court to order a part of the money arising from the sale of the land used for the payment of these debts?
A      Yes sir.
Q64  Are there any other assets anywhere that you know of belonging to her estate except what you have reported here in your inventory?
A      None that I know of.

Cross Examination

Q 1  You say you are 68 years old?
A      Yes sir.
Q 2   You are certain of that fact?
A      I was born in 1848, June 7th.  I think it figures out that I am sure on what the records shows the list that was put down in slave time.  The records show that, kept by my mistress.
Q 3   You say there was a sale held at your masters over at Brackentown in 1858?
A      Yes sir.
Q 4  How old were you at that time?
A      10 years old and a little over.
Q 5  How much older?
A      My birth was in June and the sale was in the fall.  I was old enough to wear No. 10 shoes--my foot was as big as it is now.
Q 6  Your recollection of that sale is good and clear?
A      Yes sir.
Q 7  You say you saw Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby at that sale?
A      Yes sir.
Q 9  How old was Callie at that time?
A      I don't know her age, she was a right smart sized little girl, running around.
Q10  She was as much as six years old?
A      I expect she was bound to have been as much as five or six years old, for I heard them tell it time and again that Julia and Austin had four children at the time they was over at that sale.  I know the names of them.
Q11  That the first time you ever saw Callie?
A      The first time I ever saw her.
Q12  The other three children Lucinda, Mila and Ann were not at this sale, were they?
A      No sir.
Q13  And at that time you had never seen these three children, had you?
A      No sir.
Q14  And you didn't know that Austin Oglesby and Julia Oglesby had four children or any children, in fact, until the day of that sale, and what you knew about it then was what simply what somebody told you?
A      Yes sir, all I knew about it was what somebody told me way before that sale, for they had been over there to my mother's before that.
Q15  Who had been over at your mother's before that sale?
A      Her cousin, Julia, and Austin.  In slave times they visited once a year, sometimes twice a year.
Q16  So they were there several times before that sale.
A      Yes sir, Julia Oglesby was.
Q17  How do you know?
A      Seed her there, she was there with my folks.
Q18  Didn't you state a while ago that the first time you ever saw Julia was at that sale?
A      No sir, I bet I saw her fifty times before that--she was there in my family.
Q19  Did Julia have any of her children with her when she was at your home before this sale?
A      If she did I don't remember it--I can't remember everything like that that passed in my boyhood.
Q20  So to the best of your recollection, your answer a while ago that you had never seen any of the children of Julia Oglesby until the day of this sale, when you saw Callie is true?
A      I don't remember ever seeing any of the children before that, but I remember Callie that day, on a special occasion.
Q21  Who was Julia Oglesby's father?
A      You ask me too quick.  I don't know.
Q22  Who was Austin Oglesby's father?
A      I don't know that.
Q23  Where was Julia Oglesby living at the time of this sale at your master's in 1858?
A      At Old man Lisha Oglesby's.
Q24  How do you know?
A      They said they were.
Q25  So all you know about that is what somebody told you?
A      All I know is what somebody told me.
Q26  You had never been to her home at Lisha Oglesby's before this sale?
A      No sir.
Q27  Who was Julia Oglesby living with at the time of this sale?
A      I don't know only what I have heard her say, she belonged to Lisha Oglesby.
Q28  I mean do you know whether Julia was at that time living with Austin Oglesby as his wife?
A      All I know or can say about that, they slept together.
Q29  Slept together where?
A      In my mother's kitchen, where she stayed that night.  They came in a steer wagon--there wasn't no horses then.
Q30  So all you know about their living together at any time or any place is the fact that they slept together one night at your home?
A      Thats all I know, the balance I have heard.
Q31  And when was that with reference to this sale, before or after?
A      It was the same night the sale was on that day.
Q32  You say you became acquainted with Lucinda, your wife, at her Aunt Cindy Heralds--where and when was that?
A      I don't know the exact date, but it was sometime since we have been free, but I never kept count of the date, and don't know the date.  It was at Mr. Joe Heralds, a couple of miles from Brackentown, down the creek.
Q33  You never had seen Lou before that time and place?
A      No, never had seen her before that time--Callie was the only one I had seen to know.
Q34  You say you were free at that time--then that must have been after the close of the war?  Was it?
A      Yes sir.
Q35  How long had you known Lucinda before you were married in 1872?
A      I had known her 5 or 6 or 7 years.
Q36  How old was Lou the first time you became acquainted with her?
A      I don't know, she was wearing short dresses.
Q37  How old were you?
A      I never kept account of my age the first time I ever saw her.  I was old enough to look after women.
Q38  You say Austin and Julia had four children, which of these four was the oldest?
A      Lou.
Q39  State how they came, with reference to their ages?
A      Lou, Callie, Ann next and Mila next.
Q40  You are sure of how their ages came?
A      Thats what they told me--thats all I know.
Q41  If it is true that Lou, your wife, is now 58 years old, then she was born in 1858, and if she was born in 1858, then how old was she at the date of that sale over there at your Master's when you saw Callie, her sister?
A      I don't know how old she was, for I had never seed her.
Q42  Well, if the sale was in 1858, and Aunt Lou was born in 1858, how old would she be?
A      As far as me knowing when she was born, in 58 or anytime, I don't know anything about her age, only what I have heard her folks say, that's all I know about her age.
Q43  Then if she was born in 1858 and you heard the day of the sale at your Master's in 1858 that she was older than Callie, and Callie you say was 5 or 6 years old, then what you have heard people state about her age would be untrue, wouldn't it Dock?
A      I never heard no body say the day of my master's sale that she was older than Callie.  I never heard that till the day of my master's sale I didn't know there was such a human in the world as my wife.
Q44  When is the first time that you learned that there was such a human in the world as your wife?
A      Well, since the war.
Q45  Who told you about it?
A      I seed her.
Q46  And that is the first you ever knew of her?
A      Yes sir.
Q47  And that's when you saw her down at Cindy Herald's?
A      Yes sir.
Q48  And that was five or six years after the war, and she was wearing short dresses?
A      It wasn't no five or six years, it was shortly after the war.
Q49  How long after the war?
A      I don't know, I didn't take no record of it--I married in 72--sometime in the 60's.
Q50  What do you mean sometime in the 60's?
A      I mean I got acquainted with her sometime in the 60's, I don't know what year.
Q51  So then at that time you didn't know where your wife Lou had made her home since she was born?
A      No sir, no more than what I had heard them say.
Q52  Didn't you say awhile ago that you didn't know there was such a human in the world as Lou until you got acquainted with her down at Cindy Herald's?
A      I can give you the proper answer on that--No sir, I didn't say that, I said that at my master's sale I didn't know that.
Q53  In answer to question 44 on cross-examination, were you not asked this question, just a few minutes ago, "When is the first time that you learned that there was such a human in the world as your wife?" and didn't you answer, "Well, since the war."?
A      I think I did.  I think that's correct too, if it aint, I am mistaken.
Q54  And didn't you state a while ago that you first time you knew or had heard that there was such a human in the world as Lou Oglesby that you seed her?
A      Yes sir.  That's correct.
Q55  Then why did you say in answer to 51, in such a way as to imply that you had heard somebody say where Lou had made her home between the time she was born and where you saw her at Cindy Herald's, if your answers to Q. 53 and 54 are correct?
A      I don't know as I heard anybody say where she made her home, outside of herself.
Q56  So then you do not know where Lou Oglesby made her home until you saw her at Cindy Herald's, except what she herself told you, and nobody else told you?
A      No body else but her.
Q57  How long have you known Aunt Lou before you were married?
A      I don't know 4 or 5 years or more, I never kept the dates.  She was my special company for two years.
Q58  How old was Aunt Lou when you married?
A      As far as my knowledge, I don't know how old she was.  I go by just what her mother said.  She said 16 year old.
Q59  Did she seem to be older than that or younger than that?
A      I don't know sir, she might have been younger and she might have been older.  She is a head higher now than she was when I married her.
Q60  How high was she when you married her?
A      I don't know, I never measured her, I just know where she struck me when she married, and where she strikes me now.  And she is just a head higher.
Q61  Where did she strike you when you married you and where does she strike you now?
A      I have not measured her lately--
Q62  You say you courted her two years before you married her--whereabouts did you court her?
A      In Brackentown, they moved to Brackentown in 70.
Q63  Did you ever visit Lou at her home on Goose creek in Macon Co. while Julia was living at Lish Oglesby's?
A      No sir.
Q64  Then you don't know of your own knowledge whether Lou lived with Julia Oglesby and Austin Oglesby or in fact whom she lived with before they came to Brackentown, do you?
A      I don't know who she lived with in Macon Co.  But I do know who she lived with when she stayed with Mr. Abb Wesses in the 11th District, before they moved to Brackentown.
Q65  How long was that before they moved to Brackentown?
A      In 69--in 70 they moved to Brackentown.
Q66  Have you any records showing when, if at all, Austin Oglesby and Lou's mother Julia were married?
A      No sir.
Q67  Have you tried to find the record of that alleged marriage?
A      No.
Q68  Why haven't you?
A      I had no reason to--I didn't think I had any need to.  For they was living together as man and wife before the war.
Q69  You mean that is what they told you?
A      I have seen them sleeping together at my own mothers, and niggers didn't do that then unless they was married to each other under the old dispensation--they wasn't like they are now.
Q70  You were only ten years old at that time, and yet you say that you remember distinctly that Julia and Austin Slept together at your Mothers on the night of this sale at your Master's in 1858?
A      Just as well as if it had been yesterday.
Q71  Why is your memory so good about that incident?
A      The last that they was ever at my mothers before she died of small pox.  And they have never been there since.  That was the first time I ever seed old man Austin--cousin Julia had been there many times before that.
Q72  Did Julia and Austin ever sleep together before or since that time?
A      After I married my wife I lived in the house with them 12 months and they slept together every night while I was there.
Q73  When was your mother in law Julia taken sick with her lst illness?  and where was she living? and with whom was she living at that time?
A      She was living at her home, taken sick sometime in August I don't know what date, one of her little grand daughters called Ada Butt.
Q74  When did Aunt Julia write you that letter to come up there and where is that letter?
A      Ada wrote the letter, and it was sometime in Christmas, Lou didn't write, she can't write, Ada wrote the letter herself.  I don't know where the letter is, down home somewhere I reckon.
Q75  Will you look for that letter and see if you can find it?
A      (Counsel instructs witness, and witness says he will look for it, and file it if he can find it.)
Q76  How much pension was Julia drawing?
A      $12 a month.
Q77  When was that cow sold to Mr. Witham?
A      I don't know the date, but sometime the first of October.
Q78  Anyhow, Julia was confined to her bed at that time and you made the sale and collected the money yourself?
A      No sir, I didn't make the sale, she made the sale herself--he give me the check and I carried the check to her--I didn't have no money at all.
Q79  You mean he made the check payable to you?
A      Made the check payable to Julia Oglesby--no sir, never made no check payable to me.
Q80  What did Julia do with that money that she got for the cow, $40.00?
A      You will have to resurrect her and ask her, I can't tell you, I was here in Gallatin.
Q81  Didn't she have any money at all when she died?
A      If she had airy copper I never saw it.
Q82  Didn't you ask her if she had any money?
A      No sir.
Q83  And didn't you ask her what she did with that $40 she got for the cow?
A      No sir, that was none of my business, and I never asked her a word about that.
Q84  Who asked you to serve as administrator of the estate of your mother-in-law?
A      No body but my wife.
Q85  When did she ask you to do that?
A      I don't know sometime after her mother died, and she wrote to John to come down here, and he wouldn't come, and something had to be done with the place, renting it out or seeing after it.
Q86  When did you decide to act as administrator?
A      After Julia died.
Q87  Why then if you didn't decide to act as her administrator until after Julia died, that you were consulting Mr. Durham and Mr, Murrey about how you should proceed to wind up her estate several months before she died?
A      They couldn't be any thing correct about several months before she died, she made me her power of attorney, and I came to Mr. Baskerville, that I could see about all she had and rent out her land, and I did rent out her land, and Mr. Baskerville drawed up the obligation, and I rented out the land two months before she died.  I hold one of them and Ed. Branham holds the other.
Q88  Answer the question, about going to see Mr. Murrey and Mr. Durham about winding up her estate?
A      Because I knowed they knowed the law and I wanted their advice about it.
Q89  Then you did decide to act as administrator of your mother-in-law's estate before she died, and consulted attorney's about how you would proceed as administrator?
A      I never intimated to no attorney's about me being administrator before she died.
Q90  Don't you know that you were in Mr. Durham's office a dozen times, and as many times in Mr. Murray's office, to see these gentlemen in regard to having yourself appointed administrator and how you should proceed to wind up her estate, and don't you know you consulted me about it about the same time--now come clean, Dock?
A      No sir, I never went in there to see about how to be appointed administrator before she died, I have since she died, I went to Mr. Murrey, I never went to Mr. Durham, I went to Mr. Murrey to get him to give me advice.
Q91  You went to Mr. Murrey to get him to give you advice about what?
A      About being administrator.
Q92  When did the $24.20 back pension money belonging to Julia come into your possession?
A      I don't know the date, sometime last year.
Q93  It was before you filed your amended answer and cross bill in this case on Oct. 24, 1916?
A      Yes sir.
Q94  Why didn't you account for that in your cross bill and answer?
A      I never thought of it till Mr. Collier called my attention to it--just over looked it till he called my attention to it.
Q95  How did he know anything about it?
A      I don't know, he asked me if I had brought up everything that you have had and I studied a while, and I said I have reported everything I thought I had to report, but I drew $24.20 pension, and he said you ought to have told me about that when I filed the answer.
Q96  You thought you didn't have to report that?
A      No sir, I thought I had to report to the Co. Ct. Clerk.
Q97  You thought the same thing about the $12.00 note against Howard White and about the account of $8.00 against Jim Senter, didn't you?
A      I will tell you how that was, I went down to Mr. Moore and me and Ed Branham and Ed Branham said he would send me a check for the $15.00 he owed, and said I will send it to you or pay it to Mr. Moore, and Mr. Moore said you keep all the money till you make your final settlement.
Q98  Did Ed Branham send you the $15.00 for the corn?
A      He aint yet.
Q99  The $15.00 you speak of is for rent?
A      Rent of corn since she has been dead.
Q100 At the time you filed the bill in the Co. Ct. for the sale of the land in question in this suit, you knew did you not that all the parties interested therein were over 21 years of age and of sound mind?
A      I don't know about sound mind, but I knowed they was 21 years old.
Q101 Why did you file that bill?
A      Because Essie told Mr. Baskerville to his face that she was going to file a bill and have it sold, and I thought I would beat her to it.  She is a nigger and I am a nigger, Mr. Baskerville asked her then, do you want me to file a bill, she told him I have already got a lawyer; he said Essie I have already took a lot of pains advising you what to do, and if ever I take this much pains for you again you will pay me for it.
Q102 Didn't you tell Mr. Murrey and me that John Oglesby was the man that filed that bill and that if you had filed it yourself you would have got us to file it for you?
A      Mr. Denning is a little mistaken about that, I never mentioned John Oglesby, I said my wife, I said if I had been filing it I would have got him, Mr. Denning.
Q103 Allegations in this bill that you are a gum shoe politician are true, aren't they?
A      I don't know what he means I don't understand what he is talking about.
Q104 You are a politician?
A      I used to be, I aint now.

Re Examination

Q 1  The item of $15.00 due from Ed Branham which you refer to, is for rent of the land for 1915 after Julia Oglesby died?
A      Yes sir.
Q 2  You stated that you say Austin Oglesby and his wife Julia over there at your master's sale in 1858--now did you see them together after that at different times?
A      Yes sir, times without number.
Q 3  Was he taking her around with him as his wife at the time?
A      Yes sir, said by the community that was his wife.
Q 4  You were asked something about where your wife lived before you married her, now who was she living with at Brackentown when you married her?
A      Austin Oglesby.

Dock (his mark) Bracken

Report of the Clerk & Master - Writ of Possession issued to put land in the hands of the purchasers.  (See microfilm)

The amended answer and cross bill filed by Dock Bracken individually and as administrator of the estate of Julia Oglesby against Essie Sarver, and Ada Butt of Sumner County, Tennessee, Herschel Sarver, a resident of Kentucky, and John Oglesby a resident of Indiana.  (See microfilm)

The next witness, Fletcher Adams, being duly sworn testified as follows:

Q 1  State your age, occupation and place of residence?
A      I was about fifteen years old when the war closed, the Civil War, working on the farm, I live up here above Bledsoe in Sumner County.
Q 2  Did you know Austin Oglesby before and during the Civil War?
A      I can't recollect whether I knew him before the war or not, but I knew him during the war.  I remember he went off in the war.
Q 3  Did you know him after the war?
A      Yes sir.  Knew him after the war clean along the line up until he died.
Q 4  Did you know Julia Oglesby before and during the Civil War?
A      I knew her ever since I was a little boy and knew her during the war.
Q 5  How far did you live from her before and during the war?
A      About a mile and a half.  I was at old man Cliff Oglesby's nearly every Sunday and saw her there every time I went.
Q 6  Was Julia married before or after the Civil War?
A      She married after the war.
Q 7  Who did she marry?
A      Austin Oglesby.
Q 8  Do you know Lou Brackin?
A      Yes sir.
Q 9  What was her mother's name?
A      Aunt Julia.
Q10  What was her father's name?
A.      Al Carr.
Q11  Who was Al Carr?
A      A white man.
Q12  Was Lou Brackin born before or after the marriage of Julia to Austin Oglesby?
A      Lou was born before Uncle Austin ever married Julia.
Q13  How old was Lou when Julia and Austin Oglesby married?
A      She was about four or five years old, I guess, she was about so high, a right smart size gal.

Cross examination

Q 1  State, if you know, when Lou Brackin was born?
A      I don't know when she was born.
Q 2  Will you please state to the Court how you know that Al Carr was her father?
A      I lived with Mr. Al Carr one year and he told me that Lou was his daughter and that he wanted to see her.
Q 3  When was it he told you this?
A      That has been twenty years ago.
Q 4  Is Al Carr living or dead?
A      I have heard he is dead,
Q 5  Who supported and cared for Lou Brackin up till the time she married?
A      She was with her mother.  I don't know who took care of her after she left over there.
Q 6  Did you live there near Austin Oglesby's after his marriage to Julia?
A      After he married Aunt Julia I didn't live near him.
Q 7  Why didn't you live near him?
A      I was living in the Oglesby's settlement and they left there and I didn't know where they had gone, over there on the Scottsville pike somewhere over there.
Q 8  Did Lou live with Austin and his wife Julia until she married?
A      I don't know about that.
Q 9  Did she live with them until they left your neighborhood?
A      I don't know.  She lived with her mother until Austin and Julia married, but after that I don't know.
Q10  How near were you living to Austin and Julia when they married?
A      About a mile and a half.
Q11  Then you were living there in a mile and a half of them and don't know where Lou was living with them or not?
A      After their marriage, I don't know.  I hardly ever visited there after that.
Q12  What color was Austin Oglesby?
A      He was black.
Q13  Did he claim to be part Indian?
A      I don't know what he claimed to be, if he did I don't know it.
Q14  When were Julia and Austin married?
A      I can't give the date.
Q15  What year did the Civil War close?
A      I can't give the date about what year it was.
Q16  Do you know what year the Civil war begun?
A      Know sir, I don't know what year it begun.
Q17  You said you saw Lou Brackin sometimes over at Cliff Oglesby, was he a white man?
A      Yes sir.  She belong to Cliff Oglesby.
Q18  Can you remember any other conversation that you ever had with Al Carr except the one you have above described, if so please state it.
A      I have had conversations with him about first one thing and another, I lived there with him a year.
Q19  Then according to your statement, Lou Brackin was born before her mother married Austin Oglesby and was living there with her mother when Austin and Julia married?
A     Yes sir.
Q20  How many children did they have?
A      I understood they had three after they left over there.
Q21  Did you ever visit Austin at his home after he left up there?
A      Yes sir.
Q22  Did you see Lou and the other children when you visited him?
A      I seed John there and his mother and his father, the others might have been there, but I didn't see them.
Q23  John was born in slave time, wasn't he?
A      He was born after slave time, I think, after they left over there.
Q24  Do you know what year Austin left your neighborhood?
A      No sir.
Q25  Then Lou Brackin may have lived at the home of Austin Oglesby and been cared for and supported by him just the same as his other children so far as you know?
A      Yes sir, so far as I know.

Redirect Examination

Q 1  What color was Julia?
A     She was very black.
Q 2  Have you heard others say that Al Carr was Lou's father?
A     I never heard no body else say so.
Q 3  Are you related to any of the parties to this suit or have you any interest in same?
A     No sir, only my wife and Aunt Julia were raised up together there on the place.
Q 4  You say you can't give the exact date when Julia and Austin were married, how long was it after the war?
A     I couldn't state how long, but it wasn't very long.
Q 5  Was Lou born before, during or after the war?
A     She was born in time of the war, I reckon, she was four or five years old, running around there after the close of the war.

Re-cross examination

Q 1  These things you have testified about occurred when you were a small boy?
A      I was fifteen years old when the war ceased.
Fletcher Adams

Depositions for the Defendant, taken Oct. 31, 1916

The first witness, Z. T. Key, being duly sworn, said:

Q 1  Please state your age, residence and occupation?
A      67 years old, residence Gallatin, Occupation Real Estate.
Q 2  Where did you live prior to your removal to Gallatin?
A      Bethpage.
Q 3  How long did you live at Bethpage?
A      I was born there and lived there until 10 years ago.
Q 4  Were you acquainted with Austin Oglesby Col., and his wife, Julia Oglesby?
A      Yes.
Q 5  State whether or not Austin Oglesby and his wife ever lived on your father's place, and if so when?
A      They lived on the place as near as I remember is 1867.
Q 6  Where did your father live at that time?
A      Lived near Bethpage then.
Q 7  In what way was Austin Oglesby employed there on your father's place?
A      Making a crop for part of it.
Q 8  What family did Austin Oglesby have with him there on your fathers place?
A      I remember one girl, and there might have been a baby, I couldn't be positive.
Q 9  What was the name of his oldest daughter?
A      They called her Cindy.
Q10  Did she afterwards marry Dock Bracken?
A      I don't know.  I have heard it here lately--I never did know what became of her.
Q11  Whose child was she generally reputed and understood to be there in that neighborhood at that time?
A      She went by the name of Cindy Oglesby, and was supposed to be their child.
Q12  You mean that she was supposed to be the child of Austin Oglesby?
A      I suppose so--I disremember anything of the kind ever coming up, whose she was.
Q13  Did you see his daughter Cindy Oglesby there on the place while they were living there?
A      Yes.
Q14  Did you ever hear of anyone claiming that she was not the daughter of Austin Oglesby until this lawsuit came up?
A      If I ever did I don't remember it.
Q15  You have always known her as the daughter of Austin Oglesby?
A      At the time I did, since they left there I have never known anything about her--lost sight of her till this thing came up, and I was told Bracken married her--if I have ever seen her since I don't know it.
Q16  Who were generally known and considered to be the father of Cindy Oglesby by the neighbors in that neighborhood?
Excepted to.
A      I couldn't answer that--I don't know.

Cross Examination

Q 1  How far was it from where Austin and Julia came to where your father lived?
A     Something like a half a mile or more, it wasn't the farm he lived on.
Q 2  He moved from up in Macon County, didn't he--how far was it from up there down to your father's?
A     I don't know which set of Oglesby's he belonged to--one gang lived about six miles, and the other set about 8 or 10 miles--I don't know which he belonged to.
Q 3  Did you know Lisha Oglesby?
A     Yes.
Q 4  Is he the one that lived six or ten miles?
A     No, he lived 8 or 10 miles away.
Q 5  About how old do you think this girl Lucinda was when they moved down there in 1867?
A     I don't know, its kinder guess work, but I would say she was about 13 years old--she was a good big girl.
Q 6  Did you ever hear the question raised down there as to whose daughter Lucinda was?
A     No sir.
Q 7  Then your supposition that she was the daughter of Austin and Lou is based upon no reputation, local or otherwise, but upon your own observation?
A     That's all.
Q 8  You say it is based upon your observation--isn't it a fact that both Austin and Julia were very black, and this Lucinda was a mulatter?
A     If I thought anything about it I don't remember--I considered them black, and as well as I remember, she was a mulatter--still I have seen blacker negroes than they were.

Re Examination

Q   What was your father's name?
A    W. B. Key

Z. T. Key

The next witness, Col. J. B. Malone, being sworn, said:
Q 1  State your age, residence and occupation.
A     75 years past.  Residence Gallatin--farmer.
Q 2  Where did you live prior to the time you moved to Gallatin?
A     Near Bethpage proper.
Q 3  Did your parents live there?
A     My parents lived and died there.
Q 4  Were you or not acquainted with Austin and Julia Oglesby, col. his wife?
A     I knew Uncle Austin Oglesby well, his wife I only had a casual acquaintance with.
Q 5  Were you acquainted with Austin's daughter Lucinda and if so, state the circumstances under which you knew her?
A     I knew her very well, as a young woman, I might say just verging into womanhood.  She cooked for my mother and was other wise a servant--very affiable and polite.
Q 6  Where were you living at the time she employed as a cook in your mother's family?
A      I was living in Gallatin, but was frequently at the old home--I might say, once or twice a week, was running the farm, and it was important that I should be there often.
Q 7  About when was she thus employed by your mother as a servant there?
A     My recollection is, it was in the early 70's not earlier than 71 or later than 74.
Q 8  Where was Austin Oglesby and his wife living at that time?
A     They were living on the W. B. Key place.
Q 9  State what you may know in regard to the parentage of Lucinda Oglesby; who was generally considered to be her father? and by what name did she go?
A     She went by the name of Cindy Oglesby, and as such she posed in the neighborhood among both black and white.  This man Uncle Austin came there after the war as I understood from the old Oglesby settlement, and perhaps belonged to one of them, and he saw fit to locate in that neighborhood and seemed to be a good and obedient freedman--that was soon after the unpleasantness between the states, and the old former slaves were looking out for homes for themselves.
Q10  State what personal resemblance you noticed, if any, between Austin Oglesby, and his daughter Lucinda?
A      There was something a little peculiar about Uncle Austin's head and the growth of his hair, as well as his color, his hair grew a little low down on his forehead, lower than ordinary; he wasn't an extreme black, but a little tinged with mulatter, or red complection, perhaps, looked like he might have an indian cross--a little reddish tinge.  That peculiarity to a small extent seemed to have been handed down to the daughter, as she posed.
Q11  Did this daughter of his, Lucinda, afterwards marry Dock Bracken?
A      That has been my information all these years.
Q12  I believe you stated that the girl Lucinda was generally known and considered among the people in that community, both black and white, as being the daughter of Austin Oglesby?
A      That was so understood, and I never heard it controverted.

Cross Examination

Q 1  How far is it from Bethpage proper to the old Oglesby settlement from whence came Austin and Julia Oglesby?
A     Its 8 or 10 miles to where old man Lish lived, and about 5 to where old man John Oglesby lived.
Q 2  Do you know anything about the reputation of Lucinda Oglesby as to who her father was over in the neighborhood from whence she came?
A     Nothing whatever.
Q 3  You stated that she posed amongst both colored and white down in the Bethpage neighborhood as the daughter of Austin Oglesby, did you ever hear the question raised as to whose daughter she was?
A     Never.
Q 4  Are you an expert on geniological, physiogomy, and other marks of resemblance?
A     Not at all--I am a good judge of niggers, but am not an expert.
Q 5  Did you know any of the other children of Austin and Julia Oglesby?
A     No I did not.
Q 6  How long has it been since you saw this Lucinda?
A     It hasn't been but a few months--I go in her house now, and took a meal with her--I see her two or three times a year.  I went to see her because she was kind to my mother and father and all these things.
Q 7  When was the first time you thought of this very little resemblance between Austin and Lucinda?
A     I just happened to notice it when I was up there and she was waiting on the table, and uncle Austin was around there, and I just happened to notice this peculiarity--it was a peculiarity.
Q 8  There are a great many colored people in the Bethpage neighborhood, are there not?
A      Yes sir strongly inhabited.
Q 9  Do you recall any other colored child who had a striking resemblance of his sire?
A      No, I don't know that I do.  Here is one that has a striking resemblance of his grand-sire, right here.  (Witness referring to Ed White who is present).
Q10  You have seen Ed White a good many times heretofore?
A      Yes sir, he is one of our negroes, in a sense.  His father and I were raised together in a sense, and his father belonged to my mother.
Q11  I will ask you if this isn't the first time you ever noticed that resemblance between Ed White and his grandsire?
A      Oh no sir, I have noticed it often--old uncle Ned White was a fine old servant, and looked very much like this boy.
Q12  I will ask you if Julia Oglesby wasn't a very black person?
A      I didn't know her so well, but she was black, whether she was extreme or not, I wouldn't state.
J. B. Malone

Ed White, colored, being next sworn, said:

Q 1  State your age, residence, and occupation?
A     43 years old; live in Gallatin--Run a restaurant.
Q 2  Where were you born and raised?
A      Bransford
Q 3  Did you live at Bransford until you moved to Gallatin?
A      No I lived at Brackentown a year.
Q 4  Were you acquainted with Austin Oglesby col. and his wife Julia?
A      Yes sir, I knew them about 17 years.
Q 5  Where they living when you knew them?
A      They were living on the ridge, at the old home place, on Union Hill.
Q 6  Did you or not visit their home at different times?
A      Yes sir, I passed there very often going to Brackentown.
Q 7  Did you or not visit the home of Julia Oglesby a short time before her death, if so, about when?
A      I reckon it was about in October, I think it was.
Q 8  Was that while she was still living at the old home place?
A      Yes sir.
Q 9  State whether you had any conversation with her at the time you made this last visit in regard to what she had done with her personal property, and if so, state how the conversation came up, and what she said?
A      When I went up there on a Sunday, me and Granma Bracken I asked her how she was getting along, I called her grandma, and she said she wasn't doing much good, said seemed like that all had turned against her, but Lou; and she said I give her what I have got here to take care of me till I die.  So that's all she said to me.
Q10  What did she say if anything as to how her other children had treated her?
A      No sir, she didn't say anything else.  She just said it seemed like they all had turned against her.
Q11  Was Lou Bracken there at the time?
A      Yes sir, she was in the kitchen, she wasn't in the room.
Q12  Do you know how long she had been there?
A      No sir, I do not.
Q13  What was she doing there?
A      She was waiting on her mother.
Q14  Do you know how long she stayed there waiting on her mother, about?
A      It was about four months, yes sir, I remember that.
Q15  You stated that you knew Austin Oglesby and his wife about 17 years, what color was Austin Oglesby?
A      He was a dark brown.

Cross Examination

Q 1  You are a son-in-law of Dock Bracken, aren't you?
A      Yes sir.
Q 2  Did Aunt Julia Oglesby own any land up there?
A      Yes sir, they said she did--I didn't know anything about the land.
Ed White

Wes Taylor, colored, being next sworn, said:

Q 1  What is your age, residence and occupation?
A      About 35 I reckon, don't know exactly, live in Gallatin, work in Jones livery stable.
Q 2  Are you acquainted with Doc Bracken and Lou Bracken, his wife?
A      Yes sir.
Q 3  State whether or not you remember the occasion when Julia Oglesby, colored, was moved from her home in the country to the home of Dock Bracken in Gallatin, and if so, what did you do on that occasion?
A      I was up there at the time, and drove the hack that moved her.
Q 4  Did you see Julia Oglesby there at her home on that occasion?
A      Yes sir.
Q 5  State whether you heard her make any statement in regard to what she wanted done with her personal property and furniture, and if so, what did she say?
A      I heard her say, when me and uncle Dock went into the house, I heard her say she wanted his wife to have everything.
Q 6  You mean uncle Dock's wife?
A      Yes sir.
Q 7  Was Dock Brackin present?
A      Yes sir.
Q 8  What did Dock say, if anything?
A      Dock said, did she want his wife to have everything, and asked her what she was going to do, was she going to leave anything for the girl that was up there.
Q 9  What did she say in reply to that?
A      She said she had done told Dock's wife, Miss Lou, what she wanted that woman to have.

Cross Examination

Q 1  Who else was in the house at that time?
A      Me and uncle Dock and Ed White's wife, is all I remember being in there.  Edna Horton is Ed White's wife.
Q 2  What was the old lady's condition then?
A      I don't know sir.
Q 3  How far away from her were you when she said this?
A      I was at the fireplace and she was at the bed.
Q 4  How far was that?
A      About as far as I am from the stove there, (about 10 feet)
Q 5  You say you heard her say that as you went it--who was she talking to?
A      Talking to uncle Dock Bracken.
Q 6  Where was uncle Dock when she told him that?
A      Standing at the bed.
Q 7  Was he standing there leaning over talking to her?
A      He was standing there--wasn't leaning over.
Wes (his mark) Taylor

Tas Robertson, col. being next sworn said:

Q 1  State your age, residence, and occupation?
A      58, Gallatin, Carpentering.
Q 2  Are you acquainted with Defts. Dock and Lou Bracken, and how long have you known them?
A      Yes sir, ever since 76.
Q 3  Were you acquainted with Austin Oglesby Col. and his wife Julia Oglesby, if so, how long did you know them?
A      Yes sir.  I got acquainted with them at the same time, in 76, at New Roe Kentucky, I lived and they lived at Brackentown.
Q 4  Did you or not frequently visit the home of Austin Oglesby in his life time?
A      Yes sir, quite a lot.
Q 5  Is Austin Oglesby living or dead?
A      Dead.
Q 6  Did you know him well up to the time of his death?
A      Yes sir, I was with him two or three times a week--up as long as I stayed around New Roe there.  Was with him very often.
Q 7  Did you know all of the children of Austin and Julia Oglesby?
A      I knew four of them, I don't know whether there was any more of them or not--three girls and a boy.
Q 8  What color was Austin Oglesby?
A      I would say he was a light ginger cake color--light.  He wore so much whiskers on his face you couldn't hardly tell what color he was.  He was not dark, noway.
Q 9  State whether of not his daughter Lucinda married Doc Bracken?
A      Yes sir.
Q10  In your associations with Austin Oglesby state whether or not you frequently heard him refer to Lucinda Bracken, Dock's wife, as his daughter?
A      I always heard that, never heard anything else.  He always called her his daughter Lucinda.  When she would be out playing on the floor he would say look at my daughter Lucinda.  He was a great hand to play at parties, play these running plays on the floor, and pat.
Q11  Whom did the neighbors in the neighborhood where Austin Oglesby lived generally treat and consider as the father of Lucinda Bracken?
A      Austin Oglesby.
Q12  Did you know Julia Oglesby up to the time of her death?
A      I wasn't about them very much after they moved from Brackentown to where they lived up there--but I stayed all night with them up there.
Q13  You were a friend of Austin's family, then were you?
A      Yes sir, I was a friend to all of them.
Q14  Did you ever hear anyone claim that Lou Bracken was not the child of Austin Oglesby until this lawsuit was brought?
A      No sir, never heard of it before.
Q15  Did you see Julia Oglesby a few days before she died, and if so where?
A      I disremember how long it was before she died, but I was there and saw her at Dock Brackens the Monday after she came there.
Q16  What were you doing at Dock Bracken's on that occasion?
A      I just went down to see her--we was always good friends.
Q17  Did she say anything to you on that occasion about what she had done with her personal property, and if so what did she say she had done with it?
A      She was talking to me there and she said she had give Lucinda everything she had.  I talked to her a good little bit, and in talking she said she had give Lucinda everything she had.
Q18  Are you related in any way to any of the parties to this suit?
A      No sir, nor no body else that I know of.

Cross Examination

Q 1  You now stand indicted in the Circuit Court for Bootlegging don't you?
A      They claim that I am.  I have heard that I am.  Am under bond.
Q 2  You said that you never heard anyone claim that Lou Bracken was not the child of Austin Oglesby until this lawsuit was brought--I will ask you if you ever heard the matter discussed?
A      No sir, not until this came up.  I was much surprised to hear of it, having known them so long.  I never heard such a thing hinted.
Q 3  You don't know anything about her reputation in that respect over in Macon county where they came from?
A      No sir.
Q 4  Where did you live prior to you going to New Roe, Ky.?
A      I lived at Mr. Barry Moodys left Mr. Robertsons, the man that raised me and went to Mr. Moody's on the 25th of August 1870.
Q 5  What is the color of Lucinda Bracken?
A      She is light colored.
Q 7  Then she and her mother were about the same color?
A      No sir.
Q 8  Then she and her father were the same color?
A      They were closer to the same color than her mother and her was.  Her mother was dark, and Austin was light.
Q 9  Isn't it a fact that Lucinda is very much lighter than her father?
A      Of course she was some lighter, some years back, but I don't know that she is any lighter than he was when I first got acquainted with him.
Tas (his mark) Robertson.

Deposition of Abraham Parker, col., taken in the above case by consent in the presence of the parties and their Attys. to be read as evidence n favor of the Complt. on Aug. 28th, 1916.
Said witness Abraham Parker being first duly sworn deposed as follows:

Q 1  State your name age and place of residence.
A     Abraham Parker, 91 years old, Live in Indianapolis Indiana.
Q 2  Where were you born and raised?
A     Up here by Bethpage.
Q 3  How long have you lived in Sumner County?
A     All my life in Sumner county till 14 years back when I moved to Indianapolis.
Q 4  Did you know Austin Oglesby during his life time?
A     A bigger part of his time I did.
Q 5  With reference to the Civil war did you know him before or after that time?
A     Before and after the Civil war.
Q 6  Did you know him during the Civil war?
A     Yes sir.
Q 7  Did you serve in the army with him and if so what army?
A     Yes sir, Federal army.
Q 8  How long did you and him serve in the army together?
A     The last two years and a half of the war.
Q 9  Were you in the same regiment and same company with him or not?
A     Same Regiment but not the same Company.
Q10  How well did you know him at that time?
A      I was well acquainted with him.
Q11  How long had you known him before the war?
A      Ten or fifteen years before the war.
Q12  How far did you live from him at that time?
A      Ten or twelve miles.
Q13  Were you intimately acquainted with him during these ten or fifteen years and did you see him often or not?
A      Yes sir.
Q14  Did you know Julia Oglesby during her life time?
A      I did not know her all of her life time.
Q15  With reference to the Civil War, did you know and become acquainted with her before or after that time?
A      I did not know her until after the war, right after the war.
Q16  Was Julia Oglesby married at the time you first became acquainted with her?
A      She was not.
Q17  Was Austin Oglesby married at the time you knew him during the Civil War?
A      No, sir.
Q18  Do you know the defendant, Lou Brackin?
A      Yes sir.
Q19  When is the first time you ever saw her?
A      I can't remember when was the first time I ever saw her.
Q20  The first time you ever saw her, was that before or after the Civil War?
A      After the Civil War.
Q21  About how old was she at that time?
A      She looked to be about four or five years old.
Q22  When you saw her for the first time and when you saw her mother for the first time, was that at the same time or not?
A      I saw her mother before I seen her.
Q23  How long after you saw her mother until you saw her?
A      Several years I don't know exactly.
Q24  Was Julia Oglesby married at the time when you first saw Lou, or was she married after that time?
A      Married when I first saw her.
Q25  How long had she been married at that time?
A      Not very long.
Q26  Then was Lou born before or after the marriage of Julia to Austin Oglesby?
A      After their marriage she was born.
Q27  Do you remember when Julia Oglesby and Austin Oglesby were married?
A      I don't just remember when they were married.
Q28  You mean to say you do not remember the date?
A      The date when they were married, the year, or the month.
Q29  Did this marriage take place before the war or after the war?
A      After the war.  They were not married till aft