Elijah Williams contends that he is "unlawfully detained in servitude" by David Stuart who claims Elijah "as a slave for life." The petitioner explains that Catharine Belt provided in her will that her slaves were to be free after serving her heirs for four years and that the children of her slaves were to be free at twenty-eight years of age. Elijah and his mother, Esther, were among Catharine's slaves and became the property of Thomas Hanson Belt after her death. He now complains that although he attained the age of twenty-eight in 1850, Thomas Belt sold him to David Stuart, who now holds him in violation of Catharine Belt's will. Elijah asks that Stuart show cause, if any, why he "should not be declared to be a freeman, and be discharged from Servitude."
Result: Granted; appealed; reversed; remanded.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
