Before his owner moved to Indiana, Jacob Spenglar struck a bargain with him to purchase himself for five hundred dollars. He paid his purchase price, but faced the problem of leaving the state or being sold as a slave. At age about forty-two, having lived most of his life in or near Harrisonburg, Spenglar has "numerous family connection, all of them slaves, and none of whom, could he possibly take with him for want of means to purchase their freedom." The petitioner therefore "appeals to persons who have been selected from their fellow man for their Intelligence, honesty, and virtue, to fill the council of their county ... and who are taught by their religion, as Christians, to do Justice and to love mercy" and "he feels sanguin in the hope that a law will be passed authorising him to remain in the land of his birth."
Result: Bill drawn.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
