According to the terms of the will of James Knight, the slaves belonging to the estate are to be freed when each reaches the age of twenty-eight years old. However, Samuel Hopkins, the estate's executor, claims that the debts owed by the estate are so great that he can only discharge them if he sells the slaves as slaves for life. He explains that he has already tried to sell them as term slaves under a previous court order, and the highest bid he was offered was five hundred dollars, an insufficient amount to discharge the estate's debts. He asks the court for permission to sell them under such conditions at private sale.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
