Matilda, a girl of color, informs the court that Elisha Mitchel took her to live as a slave in the Indiana Territory. She has since learned that "in consequence of an ordinance of Congress for the government of the Northwestern Territory" she was "by virtue of the said ordinance entitled to her freedom." Matilda, "being young and unacquainted with her rights and unable to resist violence and stratagem," was seized and taken to the Missouri Territory and sold to William Christy of St. Louis. In 1809 Christy sold her to Isaac [Israel] Vanbibber, in whose possession she remains. "Poor and friendless, unable to pay costs, or to give security," the petitioner prays that she be permitted to sue as a poor person for her freedom and that an attorney be assigned to her case.
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed.
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Repository: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
