<petition><petition_analysis_number>21183612</petition_analysis_number><petition_url>https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/21183612</petition_url><state>Missouri</state><county>St. Louis</county><location_type>County</location_type><file_day>6</file_day><file_month>7</file_month><file_year>1836</file_year><filing_court>Circuit</filing_court><end_day>6</end_day><end_month>7</end_month><end_year>1836</end_year><ending_court>Circuit</ending_court><result>petition granted; plea of trespass filed, denied, and appealed</result><enslaved_count>5</enslaved_count><fpoc_count>0</fpoc_count><total_people_count>9</total_people_count><repository>Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri</repository><abstract>Delph, a woman of color, represents that her owner, Josiah Ramsay Sr. of Callaway County, manumitted her in 1826.  Since 1827, Delph maintains that she has "in fact gone at large, &amp; acted as a free person ever since."  Charging that Stephen Dorris now claims her as a slave and has attempted to forcibly remove her from St. Louis, the petitioner "prays for leave to sue in the St Louis Circuit Court as a poor person, in order to establish her said right to Freedom."</abstract><subjects><subject>owner(s)/citizens manumit/free slave</subject><subject>Sues for freedom (enslaved)</subject><subject>Purchase of freedom</subject><subject>Virtually free (enslaved)</subject><subject>Purchase/Sale (enslaved family)</subject><subject>Westward migration</subject><subject>Jails/Workhouses</subject><subject>Assault</subject><subject>Purchase/Sale prices (enslaved)</subject><subject>Gambling</subject></subjects></petition>