George W. Coons, the administrator of the estate of the late Milton Duty, petitioned the court in 1841, asking to sell the estate slaves to pay debts. Duty's twenty-seven slaves responded by filing a suit to stay the sale because Duty's will had freed them. In this petition, Nat, one of the said slaves, states that Milton Duty purchased him and held him as a slave during Duty's residence in Mississippi. He avers that Duty's will freed his slaves, directing that they "be manumitted and set free and sent to the State of Missouri, if the laws of said last mentioned State would permit the same." Nat reports that Duty moved his slaves to Missouri in 1837 and remained there until his death in 1838. The petitioner cites that the said will was admitted to probate in Warren County, Mississippi, and was recorded on 26 November 1838. On 22 June 1839, the will was recorded in St. Louis County, and George W. Coons took out letters of administration on the estate. Proclaiming that Coons "wrongfully and unjustly holds him in Slavery," the petitioner prays that he "be permitted to prosecute this his suit for freedom as a poor person" and that counsel be appointed for him.
Result: Petition granted; plea of trespass filed; motion to dismiss overruled, denied; motion to set aside verdict overruled, appealed, affirmed.
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Repository: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri
