William Mitchell states that James Powell, "an old servant of your Petitioners family [who] had previously obtained him his manumission," died in 1820. He further represents that said Powell had executed his will wherein he stated that "it is my will & request that my son James immediately after my death shall be made free." Mitchell states that he "fully intended to act upon the said Will as soon as circumstances should render it expedient but that [his] retired habits of life in the country and his ignorance of the forms of business induced him to postpone his interference." Revealing that the elder Powell had purchased his son's freedom, Mitchell anxiously avers that the younger Powell “in consequence of the unforeseen difficulty arising from the recent legislative restrictions upon manumission is altogether unprotected at a time when the public excitement calls for vigilant supervision; That his character is a case omitted in Law he is the Slave of nobody and at the same time is not a freed negro.” The petitioner therefore prays that it be declared that "the said James the son of the aforesaid James Powell deceased [be] emancipated and made free."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
