Twenty-year-old Matilda, "a person of Colour," asserts that she "was born of a free woman by the name of Sarah on the 16th day of March AD 1810" in Illinois. She recounts that she lived in Illinois until about two months ago, when Charles St. Vrain brought her to Missouri. Noting that St. Vrain "now holds your Petitioner in Slavery," Matilda prays "that She may be permitted to Sue as a poor person to Establish her freedom that Counsel may be assigned to her that her mother Sarah may be appointed her next friend ... & that Such order may be made for her personal Security as her case requires & the Law provides."
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed.
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Repository: Civil Courts Building, St. Louis, Missouri
