The papers include copies of testimony, statements of fact, and exhibits from the holdings of the National Archives' Southeast Region Archives detailing the case of Lee vs. Simpson 1889. These documents date from 1856-1894.
The material has been arranged into roughly four sections within the collection: published case files, court case documents, documents that were prepared but not filed, and miscellaneous.
The published case files relate directly to J.E. Hagood's 135 page bound volume report, titled, Floride Isabella Lee, By Her Next friend, Gideon Lee, Complainant, Against Richard W. Simpson, Defendant 1889 in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Fourth Circuit-District of South Carolina that was prepared for the trial. The call number of this volume is S 417.C62 C1, a copy of which can be found within the holdings of Clemson University's Special Collections. The files are arranged chronologically as they would be found in the published volume. Corresponding page numbers have been included in the container list.
The court case documents are items that were either exhibited or filed during the case. These files have been arranged by date, corresponding to the occasion on which the material was presented.
In the prepared but not filed category are documents such as summons, subpoenas, taxation of costs, letters, orders, and various other legal material that were used during the case without ever having been filed. This material is arranged chronologically with the earliest date first.
Finally there are two miscellaneous files containing material that was difficult to classify.
Upon John C. Calhoun's death in 1850, his wife Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun received the Fort Hill estate. In 1854 Mrs. Calhoun sold the estate along with slaves to her son Andrew P. Calhoun for the sum of $49,000. Andrew P. Calhoun was unable to fulfill the monetary obligation in the allotted time period, as he had been financially ruined by the Civil War. In 1865 Andrew P. Calhoun was killed in a railroad accident, leaving the debt unpaid.
Litigation of the estate was ongoing when Mrs. Calhoun died in 1866. The court ordered the public sale of the estate to satisfy the unpaid bond and mortgage. Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson, the daughter of John C. Calhoun and Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun and wife of Thomas G. Clemson inherited the bond.
Anna appointed her husband Thomas G. Clemson as her trustee and he therefore inherited the Fort Hill estate.
Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson had willed one-quarter of the mortgage to her and Thomas G. Clemson's granddaughter, Floride Isabella Lee along with 288 acres of the estate. Anna had been left 814 acres along with the Fort Hill residence. Anna died on September 22, 1875.
Thomas G. Clemson died on April 6, 1888. Mr. Clemson left a sum of $15,000 to Floride Isabella Lee, which was the cash equivalent of her part of the estate. In addition, Mr. Clemson willed Fort Hill's remaining 814 acres and $80,000 in securities to the state of South Carolina in order for the establishment of an agricultural college on the estate.
Floride Isabella Lee, being the only surviving heir of both Thomas G. Clemson and John C. Calhoun felt that litigation was necessary in order to block the part of the will that called for the establishment of an agricultural college on the grounds of the estate. In essence the question that needed to be answered was the legality of Thomas G. Clemson's inheritance of the estate. Floride Isabella Lee's father, Gideon Lee on her behalf filed the suit on April 22, 1889. The defendant in the case was Richard W. Simpson, the executer of Clemson's will. The court found that Clemson's inheritance of the Fort Hill estate was legally sound, and therefore the case was dismissed.
0.75 Cubic Feet (102 folders in two boxes)
English
This collection documents Gideon Lee's April 22, 1889 suit on behalf of his minor daughter, Floride Isabella Lee in order to contest the will of the late Thomas Green Clemson, who had died on April 6, 1888. Thomas Green Clemson had made it known through the codicil to his will that on the Fort Hill estate would be established an agricultural college. Floride Isabella Lee, being Clemson's only surviving heir, made an attempt through litigation to block this action.
Received from National Archives and Records Administration's Southeast Region Archives. Provided Clemson with copies of the original files in 1995. Formerly accession number 95-49.
Original files held by the National Archives' Southeast Region Archives in East Point, Georgia.
Processed by Carl Redd in 2004.
The conversion of this finding aid to Encoded Archival Description format was made possible with a grant from the South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board in 2009-2010. The finding aid was prepared for encoding by Kristi Roberts.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository
