Gabriel Jones represents that the late Simon Abrahams manumitted him by a deed of emancipation which was to take effect upon the death of the said Abrahams. Noting that Abrahams died in April 1850, the petitioner laments that "although he has been liberated by his master mainly from motives of gratitude for his fidelity as a servant - He will without the interference of your Honorable body be obliged without even the means of transportation to leave his native State, his friends and his home, for some place he does not know where." The petitioner, "now nearly Three score years and ten," therefore prays that an act will pass "permitting him to remain in the Commonwealth of Virginia the short time that yet remains of his life." Simon Abrahams stipulated in said deed of emancipation that the bequest of freedom was "made upon the express condition that [his slaves] go to Liberia under the care of the American Colonization Society or Virginia Colonization Society" and he gave said slaves "one year after my death to decide whether they will go to Liberia."
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
