Petitioners James Botler, John Thomas Botler, and George Botler, "free colored children, under the age of twenty one years," came to Baltimore County from St. Mary's County with their mother, Mary Botler, to live with and be supported by Francis Harding. Mary died while Harding was away, and in his absence, William Wade had the three boys bound to him as apprentices with the approval of the court. The petitioners and their next friend, James Buchanan, argue that "in consequence of the whole expense and trouble of rearing them having been borne by the said Francis A Harding and the custody of them having always been entrusted to him by their said mother," Wade had "no right" to have them bound to him. They ask the court to cancel the indentures and to subpoena Wade to answer their charges.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
