1789.
0131. Charleston residents Ruth and Barbara Cole, mother and daughter, request that they be
appointed executors and administrators of the estate of Susanna Raper, a free woman of color.
Raper had neither heirs nor next of kin at the time of her sudden death. Her estate, which
included one slave and other personal property, escheated to the state. The petitioners cared for
Raper, who was subject to “many attacks of a Violent Complaint,” during her last illness. Raper,
they state, wanted to give to them “all she possessed as a small return for their long and
unremitted Services.” When a “Gentleman as greatest Creditor” applied to administer the estate,
Ruth Cole took the case to the Charleston Ordinary Court and was appointed administrator. Now
they seek an act granting them Raper's estate. Raper's debts are paid. Ruth Cole's deceased
brother, William Raper, a bricklayer, had been married to Susanna Raper. Petitioners: Cole,
Barbara; Cole, Ruth.