Andrew Knight laments that "by the Dispensations of a wiser Providence" he was rendered a widower and the sole support and "nurse of Eight Small children, one in the Arms." A mechanic of moderate means, Knight confesses that he "could not afford to hire ... any person as a Nurse, Cook & Seamstress to his said children." He states, however, that from "his hard earnings he had laid up wherewithal to purchase a Negroe wench slave for these purposes"; in late November 1816, Knight went to Virginia where he "was successful in his undertaking." The petitioner discovered, however, that the legislature had passed in his absence an act preventing "the introduction of Slaves into this State," forcing him to keep the said slave in North Carolina. Professing that he "is in great need of the services of the said slave & much injured by want of them," Knight prays that he be permitted to bring said slave into the state.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
