Sally Dabney informs the legislature that she was purchased by her husband, Cambridge Dabney, in 1818 and remained his property until his death in 1826. Her husband, Cambridge Dabney, had always intended to free her at his death, she contends, but he "held her in slavery during his life to prevent the separation which would have been the necessary consequence of her emancipation." There is no better proof of his intention to free her, she contends, than the fact that he left his property to her; a slave cannot own property, she points out. Nevertheless since Cambridge never officially emancipated his wife, she now finds herself in the peculiar circumstance of being a slave without an owner. She asks for an act granting her freedom and allowing her to remain in Virginia. She and Dabney had no children and, although she is now remarried, she thinks it unlikely that she will ever have any.
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
