Peter Dewees, a free man of color, seeks to stop the removal of his family, who are held as slaves. In 1840, Dewees wished to purchase his wife and four children, who were held by Hugh E. Vincent, and he applied to John Francis, a free man of color, “to advance him the sum." Francis received the bill of sale from Vincent; as soon as Dewees repaid the purchase price, the slaves would transfer to his possession. In 1850, Francis "desired to have the money advanced by him repaid." Not having the full amount, Dewees applied to Thomas Cumming to buy the slaves "upon the same terms." After making the purchase, Cumming proposed that Dewees could have the slaves in full if he paid $1000. Dewees collected the sum and tried to pay Cumming but was refused. Now Cumming "intends to leave Charleston with his family and to take the said negroes with him as his absolute property." Dewees seeks an injunction preventing Cumming from selling or removing the slaves. Cumming answered that he bought the slaves from a broker, not Francis. He also states that Dewees’s wife is “unsound,” the eldest daughter is “completely deaf,” and the second daughter “has a large and ugly mark upon the face which greatly deteriorates from her value.”
Result: Injunction granted; dissolved; dismissed.
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
