|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TESSIER v. WYSE. 55
then in her hands, in a due course of administration, so as to relieve
herself from all liability. To discharge herself from all claims in
respect of the assets thus admitted to have been in her hands, it
certainly cannot be deemed to be incumbent upon her to do so by
subsequent accounts passed by the Orphans Court; it Would be
sufficient for her to shew, by any kind of legal proof, that she had
fully and properly administered the assets then on hand. There is
here, however, no such proof of her having properly applied any
portion of the assets held by her on the 29th of June, 1816. But
all the peculiar circumstances of this case must be carefully con-
sidered in order to obtain a clear view of the manner in which the
personal estate then in the hands of the administratrix Rachel Wyse,
has been consumed and reduced to the amount now found in the
hands of the adminsistrator, de bonis non, Allender.
It appears, that the deceased debtor William Wyse, at the time
of his death, was seised and possessed of a considerable real and
personal estate, which passed into the hands of his widow as ad-
ministratrix, and his eight children, now here as defendants, and
who were his heirs and next of kin; most of whom were then under
age, and all of whom have been maintained, and the minors edu-
cated, as we are left strongly to infer, from the estate by their
mother and natural guardian, the administratrix; that the adminis-
tratrix Rachel Wyse, with this defendant John M. Wyse, by their
petition addressed to this court, before the institution of this suit,
stated, that the personal estate of the deceased was not sufficient to
maintain and educate his children; and therefore they prayed to
have the tract of land called Deer Park sold, as directed by him for
that purpose; which was decreed accordingly; thus distinctly
giving the court to understand, in that suit, that the mother and
natural guardian of these infants had, had no hesitation in applying
the personal assets, in her hands as administratrix, to their main-
tenance and education. And it further appears, that this plaintiff
Tessier, had pressed for the payment of his debt, by suing and
obtaining judgments upon his collateral security, which judgments
have, by accident, teen left wholly ineffectual. Hence, although
it is not directly shewn how the children were maintained; yet on
looking to the nature of the estate as described in the inventories
and proceedings, and to the probable cost of maintaining and edu-
cating them for about eight years, the irresistible presumption is,
that the amount of the difference between the assets shewn to have
been in the hands of Rachel Wyse, on the 29th of June, 1816, and
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
