Gabriella and her two daughters, Delila and Henrietta, ask the court to enjoin the heirs of Joseph Bell from selling them as slaves. Citing their "history of lineage," they proclaim that Gabriella's grandmother, Jinny, was "an Indian and free" and that her mother, Judy, was "begotten by a white man by whom her grand mother had ten children born at or near Port Royal Caroline Co. Virginia." Jinny resided with one John Roy and, "either by Indenture or some other arrangement," came into the possession of and resided with "a certain Rodham Kenney." After Gabriella was born, she and her mother "were taken by some legal process and sold as the slaves or property of" Kenney and eventually purchased by "a certain Edward Downing," who gave them to his sister, Bell's wife. The Bells then brought them to Tennessee and received the profits of their labor until Joseph died around 1838. The petitioners represent that "there is to be this day an assembling" of Bell's heirs "for the purposes of distributing or selling" them; "the time has at length arrived when complainants are absolutely forced to assert the right which they have to freedom." They reveal that Bell always admitted their ancestors' freedom and that his daughter, Margery, "has repeatedly declared that at her death complainants with their offspring," who now number eight, "should be free." They pray that the court "will decree their absolute freedom and will perpetually enjoin the said defendants from any interference."
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
