Sam, a person of color, maintains that his mother, Lydia Titus, was the slave of Elisha Mitchell [Mitchel] and that Mitchell brought Lydia into the Illinois Territory in 1807. He reveals that Mitchell died shortly thereafter and that his widow Jenny Mitchell administered the estate in St. Clair County, Illinois, attempting to claim Lydia as a slave of the estate, despite their residence in Illinois. Sam reports that his mother filed a suit for her freedom against Jenny Mitchell in 1809 and that the court granted her request. The petitioner argues that he was born after this suit and that the family has "enjoyed their freedom in the territory and state of Illinois until yesterday when they were arrested imprisoned and seized as slaves by one Alexander P Fields Elijah Mitchel & others." Alleging that Fields, Mitchel, and others "threaten and intend immediately to remove your petitioner out of this state to prevent his asserting his right to freedom, and to hold or sell him as a slave elsewhere," the petitioner prays that "he may be allowed to sue as a poor person" to establish his right to freedom.
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed.
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Repository: Civil Courts Building, St. Louis, Missouri
