In her 1810 will, free woman of color named Patsey Jackson bequeathed a house and lot in Richmond to Richard North, a white man. She instructed North to purchase a slave named Henry and allow Henry to purchase his freedom. She also asked that North give Henry a "part of the property devised" to him. After Jackson's death, one of the witnesses to the will, William J. Dunn, said he would not "prove" the will unless he received one-half of the property. "This proposition being too monstrous to be listened to for a moment," North asserts, he "instantly left" Dunn and "determined to coerce his attendance" in court. But Dunn continued to refuse proving the will under various reasons. North asks the legislature to intervene. If nothing is done, he says, the property will escheat to the state, as Jackson had no free relatives.
Result: Bill drawn.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
