Thirty-two residents of Sumter District ask that proceeds from the estate of the late James Slatter, who was a free person of color, be used for the erection of an academy at Bishopville. They explain that Slatter’s next of kin "being slaves, his small estate escheated to the State" and that the proceeds of his estate will net about $300. Noting that "the population of their neighborhood is a very thick one, and containing a great many of the youth of both sexes," the petitioners assert that "the erection of an Academy at Bishopville or in the vicinity thereof would prove of great benefit to their community and tend to facilitate the means of Education to their youth." They therefore pray that "the Escheator of Sumter District may be allowed by a law ... enacted, to expend the nett proceeds of the escheated estate of Said James Slatter" to the establishment of an academy, which "shall always be considered as open to the children of the residents of the neighborhood, and under such restrictions as your Honorable Body may if you deem necessary provide."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
