OGDEN v. OGDEN.—1 BLAND. 267

Laying aside such of the allegations of the parties as are neither
admitted nor sustained by proof, with the irrelevant testimony,
and the case is this:—Amos Ogden, owing to some unhappy circum-
stances, had separated, and lived apart from his wife, during a
period of about thirty years before his death, he had no children;
and his wife survived him. At the time of his death he had a
considerable estate; consisting of lands lying in Baltimore County,
lands in the Big-bend of Green River in Kentucky, and some per-
sonal property. About ten years before his death, his niece
Nancy Ogden, then about seventeen years of age, was brought to
live with him. He maintained and educated her; and she man-
aged his household affairs; in which situation he became so
attached to her as to consider her as his adopted child.

Sometime in the early part of the year 1817, John W. Ogden, a
nephew of Amos', and a cousin of Nancy's, visited and addressed
her; a mutual attachment was formed, and they became en-
gaged to be married at a convenient time thereafter. On the
* first of May, 1817, Amos Ogden bound himself, by a bond,
to distribute most of his personal property among Amos
Ogden of Stephen, Nancy Ogden, and Sarah Burket. Under
these circumstances, on the 22d of May, 1817, he wrote a letter to
his brother Benjamin Ogden, the lather of John W. Ogden, of
which the following extract is all that is material to this case:—

"DEAR BROTHER—

"With joy, on the 17th of April last, I received your favor by
your son Capt. John W. Ogdeu, together with my land papers on
Phillips, and have to regret, that 1 have been compelled in giving
you so much trouble in the arrangement of my business. But
mean to compensate, if giving the largest part of that land will
compensate, to your children. I shall deed to your daughter Mary
T. Harpenden, and your son Stephen T. Ogden, two hundred acres
each, and the remainder to your sou John W. Ogden, and his ex-
pected spouse Nancy Ogden of our dear brother Stephen, as joint
tenants, and to the survivor in fee simple for ever. I have got to
inform you, and my loving sister Nancy Ogden, your dear wife,
that my dear adopted daughter Nancy Ogden of Stephen, and your
son John W. Ogdeu, is expected to be married some time between
this and next spring, as will best suit his return to Maryland,
I can tell you, my dear brother, (though my heart bleeds at the
idea of her leaving me forlorn of any child to comfort me in my
advanced age of life,) I rejoice to think, that she is agoing to be
connected to so worthy a man as your son; and I have no doubt
but that the Lord will bless them in their affections. She has lived
with me nearly ten years, and has conducted herself in such an
amiable manner, that both at home and abroad she is beloved.
As to the things of this world, I shall bestow on her, at her part-