Petition #20881611

• East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. November 22, 1816. - December 14, 1821.
• Court: District
• Salutation: To the Honorable the Judge of the Third District Court, State of Louisiana, holding sessions in and for the Parish of East Baton Rouge

Abstract

James Morgan asserts that his slave named Ryner and her child are in Fergus Duplantier's "illegal possession." Morgan prays that the slaves be returned and that Duplantier pay $1,500 in damages. Several related documents uncover the circumstances that gave rise to the slave title dispute between Morgan and Duplantier. In 1811, Ryner's owner was a white woman named Milly [Mily] Deal, who at the time was living with her mulatto lover, a man named John Evans. That year, John Evans killed a slave belonging to another man and fled. The murder and Evans's flight from justice triggered a series of events that resulted in Ryner being shunted between Milly Deal and the murdered slave's owner, being transported to the Mississippi Territory, and, after Milly Deal's and John Evans's deaths, being sold and resold a number of times.

Result: Dismissed; refiled; denied; appealed.

• Number of petition pages: 3
• Related documents: PARs #20881417, 20881418, #20881419, #20881420, #20881421, #20881422, #20881423, #20881424, #20881425, #20881426, #20881427, #20881428, #20881429, #20881430, #20881431, #20881432, #20881918, #20882117, #20883503; Order, 15 November 1816; Sheriff's Return, 23 November 1816; Sheriff's Return 11 April 1817; Deposition, Micajah Shirley, 2 September 1817; Judgment 5 November 1818; Secondary Petition, 1 July 1819; Sheriff's Return, 6 July 1819; Supplemental Petition, 11 May 1821; Sheriff's Return, 12 May 1821; Amended Petition, 5 July 1821; Sheriff's Return, 30 July 1821; Cross Interrogatories, 5 July 1821; Copy of Estate Inventory, John Evans, 8 October 1814; Attorneys' Case Facts, 23 November 1821; Petition of Appeal, ca. 24 November 1821; Order, 24 November 1821; Judgment 14 December 1821; Verdict, ca. December 1821
• Pages of related documents: 22

12 people are documented within petition 20881611

• 1 Free person of color
• 3 Enslaved
• 1 Defendant
• 1 Petitioner
• 6 Others

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Citation information

Repository: East Baton Rouge Parish, Clerk of Court Archives, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

• Records of the Third Judicial District Court

Subjects

• Property owners (Black)
• Enslaver (FPOC)
• Homicide
• Native Americans
• Interracial relationships
• Death of enslaved (other)
• Title dispute (enslaved)
• Assessed Value (enslaved)
• Family kept together (Black)