At his death, in 1830, William H. Fitzhugh of Ravensworth left a will stipulating that his slaves should be held by his wife Anna Maria until 1850, and then emancipated. Among them was Sarah Dixon, wife of John Edward Dixon, who remains a slave owned by Sally Griffith of Alexandria. The couple cites the law that directs that "if any emancipated Slave shall remain within this state more than twelve months after his or her right to freedom shall have occurred, he or she shall forfeit all such right and may be apprehended and sold by the overseers of the poor of any county, in which he or she may be found, for the benefit of the literary fund." They "humbly pray and beseech" the legislature to permit them to remain in the state as man and wife. They beseech the honorable legislature "for a few moments to contemplate their distressing condition. Being drawn together by those inscrutable impulses of the human heart that impel one to sympathize in the condition and feelings of another and so living together bound by their ties of feeling and sympathy they have brought into the world offspring. And now it is that this terrible alternative is placed before them." Sarah must either "be shipped to the inhospitable climes of strangers at home or abroad" or be sold and sent far away to the Southern Market. Who will take care of their children, they ask; John Edward is a slave and cannot provide for them.
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
Or you may view all people.
Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
