Delph, a woman of color, represents that her owner, Josiah Ramsay Sr. of Callaway County, manumitted her in 1826. Since 1827, Delph maintains that she has "in fact gone at large, & acted as a free person ever since." Charging that Stephen Dorris now claims her as a slave and has attempted to forcibly remove her from St. Louis, the petitioner "prays for leave to sue in the St Louis Circuit Court as a poor person, in order to establish her said right to Freedom."
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed, denied, and appealed.
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Repository: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
