Ninety-nine petitioners represent that Peter Fisher, who died in 1827, "by his will directed his negroes to be emancipated." They point out that "said will was much contested in the Sumner County and Circuit Courts on the ground of the imbecile and deranged state of the old gentlemans mind as well as the fraud practized in obtaining it." The petitioners complain that James Dabbs, administrator de bonis non of said Fisher, was expected to petition said courts for the emancipation of said slaves but "he did not do so as it was believed that the negroes were under such bad character connected with public policy that the magistrates of the said County would not emancipate them." Other interested parties, however, successfully applied to the legislature to have the jurisdiction of the case transferred to the chancery courts. Asserting that "legislating for particular Cases is partial and oppressive," the petitioners pray to have the transference of jurisdiction repealed, arguing that "all such laws should be repealed."
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
