Virginia-born Moses Chastain was freed by the last will and testament of his late master, Louis Chastain, in 1814. The deed of emancipation was duly registered in the commonwealth of Kentucky where the late Chastain resided at the time of death. However after Chastain's death, Moses explains, "representatives of the testator made an attempt to carry him into bondage" out of the state of Virginia where he had resided since the time of his birth. He went to court and in 1825 established his right to freedom. However, as some of the parties involved in the suit did not reside in Virginia, the decree was not made final until 1832. Moses Chastain explains that he knows that as a freed slave, according to the laws of Virginia he is required to leave the state; but he is sixty years old and has a slave wife and fifteen slave children, "most of whom are still living & reside in his native county of Bedford," and thus he wishes to be granted permission to remain in his native state.
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
