Free black minors, Elizabeth and Sam Davis, through their mother and next friend, Polly Davis, ask to be released from their apprenticeship bonds to Mahlon Cadwallader, who is about to move "to some one of the western states permanently." The two children were bound to Cadwallader by the Overseers of the Poor four or five years before; Sam was to learn "the art and trade of a cooper" and Elizabeth was to learn "the business and duties of a house Servant and seamstress." Besides their unwillingness to leave their mother and other relatives in the area, they believe their master, a man of "intemperate habits," has "designs upon their freedom" and plans to sell them "as slaves in foreign servitude." They ask the court to cancel their indentures to Cadwallader, and to issue an injunction preventing him from transporting them out of Virginia.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
