Richard Teasdale joins his three minor sons in asking that they be permitted "to sell a Negro Woman Maria & her infant Child." The petitioners submit that Maria "is virtually of no service to us -- in as much as she cannot cook, the fire she says affects her head-- and washing steadily keeps her constantly complaining of being sick." The Teasdales insist that she "is only fit for House Work, and ladies maid being a mantua maker and semstress." They report, however, that her annual hire for the past year yielded only $7.87. Having lost "two Crops of Rice in succession," the petitioners reveal that they have been reduced "to absolute want, being destitute of every thing" and that they "are anxious to remove to Town" to seek employment there. They therefore request the "permission of your honorable court to sell the wench Maria & her infant 7 mths old."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
