One hundred forty-four citizens of New Bern ask the legislature to free two slaves held by the late Mary Grover. The petitioners assert that Dave and Alphonso, with "their kind attention and obedience to the wants and wishes of their said mistress," did much “to ameliorate the pain and sickness under which she was then suffering." They further report that the said Mary, seeking “to confer upon them the only boon in her power then to give, ... freely granted to them their personal liberty, as some compensation for the unremitting industry and devotion with which they rendered their service to her while living.” The New Bern citizens therefore pray that said slaves be manumitted and be “exempt from the operation of the law providing that slaves emancipated under the will of their owner shall leave the State within ninety days” and that Dave and Alphonso “may continue to live and reside within the State of North Carolina” with their wives and families.
Result: Rejected.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
