Pierre, a man of color, represents that his mother Rose was born in 1768 in Canada. In 1791 John Stork took Rose to Prairie du Chien in the Northwest Territory, where she remained, "rendering service to him and his family," until Stork's death three years later. In 1795 Andrew Todd brought Rose to St. Louis and sold her to Pierre Joseph Didier, who later sold her and her two young sons to Auguste Chouteau. Rose gave birth to Pierre and several other children while owned by Chouteau. After Chouteau's death, Edward Chouteau bought Pierre, later selling him to Therese Cerre Chouteau. Pierre declares that he is a free man, "first because his mother was born free, being a native of a British Province in which slavery was not tolerated, and secondly, because if his mother were born a slave, she became by her residence at Prairie du Chien a free person under the Ordinance of 1787." Pierre prays that he may be permitted to sue as a poor person against Therese Chouteau to recover his freedom. He also asks for reasonable liberty to attend court and counsel and protection from severe treatment or removal from the court's jurisdiction.
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed; suit abated.
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Repository: Civil Courts Building, St. Louis, Missouri
