Bacchus Beall, a free person of color, serves as next friend to his two minor sons, Charles and Frank Beall. The Beall young men charge that they are being held in bondage by Joseph Jones, administrator of the estate of the late Walter Chew. Shortly after Chew's death, Jones came to the District of Columbia, and "removed by force your petitioners Charles and Frank." In Nathaniel Chew's will, a slave named Rachel, who is the petitioners' mother, was given to his nephew, Nathaniel Chew, to serve him four years from his uncle's death. Rachel served the term and was released by him. She then gave birth to the petitioners which make them "free born." The petitioners request they be dismissed and discharged from service to Joseph Jones and ask the court to render a judgment "that they are free." A deposition from Robert Clarke in the court transcript claims that Walter Chew manumitted Rachel between the years 1837 and 1840 because "she was so bad, and Mrs. Chew would not agree for her to come home." The defendant claims possession of Rachel because Rachel had been in Walter Chew's widow's possession from 1816-1838.
Result: Granted; appealed; reversed; remanded.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
