Charlotte Dorsey, a widowed free woman of color, states that in 1844 she worked for John G. Nichols and that she and her ten-year-old son Charles lived on his property. In the fall of that year, Dorsey was unjustly imprisoned and while she was in jail, Charles was bound to Nichols as an apprentice. She states that upon her release from jail, Nichols returned Charles, saying "that he did not want him & took him only for her benefit." The petitioner points out that she "fed, clothed, supported and maintained" her son until eighteen months ago when she hired him out to a family in Annapolis. Charles remained there until December 1852 when John B. Nichols, "as the assignee of John G. Nichols," claimed the boy and took him away. Dorsey petitions that she has been advised that the original indenture with John Nichols is null and void. She asks the court to order John G. and John B. Nichols to answer her charge, to appear in court with her son, and to cancel the indenture, "if any there be."
Result: Dismissed.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
