Dorinda Bettlany, a free woman of color and a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, seeks the return of her slave. Bettlany informs the court that George is the son of a woman named Penelope, who formed part of the estate of her late mother, a free woman of color named Sarah Leight Bettlany. At her mother's death in 1843, the petitioner and her brother, Auguste, were left in the care of their "natural father," who kept possession of their mother's estate property, including the slave, until his own death. Bettlany now avers that John and Eliza Maguire "have illegally and forcibly taken possession of the said slave George and refuse to deliver him" to her, whereby she is "deprived of the possession and services" she estimates to be "well worth the sum of fifty dollars per annum." Bettlany prays for a decree declaring her the true and lawful owner of the slave and that the Maguires be order to return him to her and to pay hiring fees for the time he has been in their possession.
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: West Feliciana Parish Courthouse, St. Francisville, Louisiana
