Twenty-three-year-old James Thomas seeks permission to remain in Tennessee. Recently emancipated by Ephraim Foster "at the present term of this worshipful Court," Thomas informs the court that he trained as a barber and "is now honestly and profitably employed in his shop in the town of Nashville, where he has a large custom & is trying to make a living by faithful attention to his business." The petitioner believes that "if he is compelled, under the existing laws, to remove out of the State, he will be greatly damaged by having to Start anew in some Strange Country & rebuild a character he trusts he has already established in Tennessee." He asks the court to allow him to remain in Davidson County, "exempt from the pains & penalties imposed by law upon free people of color, emancipated since the year 1831, and that on complying with its conditions, he may have all the priveledges & benefits confered upon such persons by the act of 1842."
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Archives
