Joseph Harris, a free man of color, asks permission to remain in Tennessee. Harris recalls that the owner of his wife and children "emigrated from Virginia in the fall of 1832 to the County of Shelby in this state where he is now settled." He further states that he "felt unwilling to be parted from them and if he could be permitted to accompany them he felt it to be his duty to do so," whereupon his "late owner and master moved by a desire to gratify the intention & wishes of your petitioner or from some other generous motive emancipated him and left him free to act as he might think it most expedient." Having "purchased a small tract of land upon which he is now settled," the petitioner "trusts and hopes and humbly prays that under all these circumstances the boon he solicits at the hands of your honorable bodies will not be denied to him."
Result: Tabled.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
