Alexander Bowie states that Mathew Donaldson bequeathed to his wife, Jennet Donaldson, a life estate in certain slaves, stipulating said slaves should be emancipated after her death. He further relates that, some years later after her death, George Bowie, one of the executors of Donaldson's will, took possession of the slaves and "they thereby became his property" and he "emancipated those mentioned in the will." The petitioner reports, however, that a slave title dispute delayed the emancipation of "one of the female slaves, [who] was in the mean time, delivered of a male child, named Sam, who thereby became & was the property of the said George Bowie"; Bowie on 4 August 1817 bound the six-year-old child "to your petitioner until he should attain the age of twenty one years, when your petitioner obligated himself to emancipate him." The petitioner therefore prays "your honorable body to permit him to emancipate the said slave, that the benevolent intentions of the said Mathew Donaldson may be fully carried into effect."
Result: Referred to judiciary committee.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
