21479502https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/21479502TennesseeWashingtonCounty1891795Superior0003210Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TennesseeMargaret Lee requests that a writ of habeas corpus "may immediately issue, directed to Samuel Gammon of Sullivan County, commanding him to appear before your Honors ... with the Bodies of Margaret Lee & her two children Maria & Abraham." Born in Boston of free parents, Lee laments that she was "suddenly seized" at sunset while on a wharf and then "bound with Cords, and hurried on Board of a Vessel" that later landed in Maryland. The petitioner decries that she was "doomed to Servitude" and that "Labour, oppression & their attendant Grief, hovered around her." Lee reveals that "she communicated her situation to some benevolent Men, with a view of obtaining relief;" however, her owner, fearing the "truth might appear from Investigation, sold her." Noting that she, "for the period of twenty years, has suffered a Life of Servitude, in a Country, where she had inherited from her Parents Liberty," the petitioner and her two "tender little Infants" pray that the court may issue "the most gracious Writ of Liberty ... a Habeas Corpus" and that "your Honors may take such Steps, as will give to your petitioner an opportunity of shewing that freedom was her Birthright."Sues for freedom (enslaved)ShipsKidnapping (FPOC)Family separated (Black)