Jemima Hunt Petitions the Virginia Assembly, 1811
Virginia State Assembly (Library of Congress)
Jemima Hunt, a free African American woman in the county of Southampton, Virginia, petitioned the government of Virginia to permit her husband, Stephen, a slave, to live in the state after his emancipation, in spite of laws prohibiting freed slaves from residing there.
Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811
Petition Number, 5870, Southampton County, Dec. 9, 1811.
To the Honorable, the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia.
The Petition of Jemima Hunt (a free woman of color) of the County of Southampton, humbly sheweth—that sometime in the month of November, in the Year 1805—Your petitioner entered into a contract with a certain Benj Barrett of said County for the purchase of Stephen a Negro man Slave, the property of said Barrett, & husband to your petitioner, for the sum of ten pounds annually for ten years, and the said Barrett farther bound himself to take the sum of ninety pounds if paid within five years & at the expiration of that time to make a complete bill of sale for the said Negro Stephen, which will appear by reference being made to the obligation entered into between the said Barrett and your petitioner. Your petitioner farther states that she has paid the full amount of the purchase money and has obtained a bill of sale for the said negro Stephen; who (being her husband) she intended to emancipate after she had complyed with her contract,—but in some short time after as your petitioner has been informed an act of Assembly was passed, prohibiting slaves, being emancipated after the law went into operation, from residing in the state—Your petitioner farther states that she has a numerous family of Children by the said Stephen, who are dependent upon the daily labor of herself & husband for a support, & without the assistance of her husband Stephen they must suffer or become burthensome to their county.
Therefore your petitioner humbly prays that the legislature would take her case into consideration & pass a law to permit the said negro Stephen to reside in the State after emancipation, and to enjoy all the privileges that other free people of colour are entitled to & as in duty bound Your petitioner will ever pray, etc.
Source: Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811, in “Manumission Petitions Presented to the Virginia Legislature,” compiled by James Hugo Johnston, Jr., Journal of Negro History 13, No. 1 (Jan. 1928): 88–89.
Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811
Petition Number, 5870, Southampton County, Dec. 9, 1811.
To the Honorable, the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia.
. . . Your petitioner entered into a contract with a certain Benj Barrett of said County for the purchase of Stephen a Negro man Slave, the property of said Barrett, & husband to your petitioner, for the sum of ten pounds annually for ten years, and the said Barrett farther bound himself to take the sum of ninety pounds if paid within five years & at the expiration of that time to make a complete bill of sale for the said Negro Stephen . . . Your petitioner farther states that she has paid the full amount of the purchase money and has obtained a bill of sale for the said negro Stephen; who (being her husband) she intended to emancipate after she had complyed with her contract, — but in some short time after as your petitioner has been informed an act of Assembly was passed, prohibiting slaves, being emancipated after the law went into operation, from residing in the state — Your petitioner farther states that she has a numerous family of Children by the said Stephen, who are dependent upon the daily labor of herself & husband for a support, & without the assistance of her husband Stephen they must suffer or become burthensome to their country.
Therefore your petitioner humbly prays that the legislature would take her case into consideration & pass a law to permit the said negro Stephen to reside in the State after emancipation, and to enjoy all the privileges that other free people of colour are entitled to . . .
Source: Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811, in “Manumission Petitions Presented to the Virginia Legislature,” compiled by James Hugo Johnston, Jr., Journal of Negro History 13, No. 1 (Jan. 1928): 88–89.
Background
Jemima Hunt, a free African American woman in the county of Southampton, Virginia, petitioned the government of Virginia to permit her husband, Stephen, a slave, to live in the state after his emancipation, in spite of laws prohibiting freed slaves from residing there.
Transcript
Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811
Petition Number, 5870, Southampton County, Dec. 9, 1811.
To the Honorable, the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia.
The Petition of Jemima Hunt (a free woman of color) of the County of Southampton, humbly sheweth—that sometime in the month of November, in the Year 1805—Your petitioner entered into a contract with a certain Benj Barrett of said County for the purchase of Stephen a Negro man Slave, the property of said Barrett, & husband to your petitioner, for the sum of ten pounds annually for ten years, and the said Barrett farther bound himself to take the sum of ninety pounds if paid within five years & at the expiration of that time to make a complete bill of sale for the said Negro Stephen, which will appear by reference being made to the obligation entered into between the said Barrett and your petitioner. Your petitioner farther states that she has paid the full amount of the purchase money and has obtained a bill of sale for the said negro Stephen; who (being her husband) she intended to emancipate after she had complyed with her contract,—but in some short time after as your petitioner has been informed an act of Assembly was passed, prohibiting slaves, being emancipated after the law went into operation, from residing in the state—Your petitioner farther states that she has a numerous family of Children by the said Stephen, who are dependent upon the daily labor of herself & husband for a support, & without the assistance of her husband Stephen they must suffer or become burthensome to their county.
Therefore your petitioner humbly prays that the legislature would take her case into consideration & pass a law to permit the said negro Stephen to reside in the State after emancipation, and to enjoy all the privileges that other free people of colour are entitled to & as in duty bound Your petitioner will ever pray, etc.
Source: Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811, in “Manumission Petitions Presented to the Virginia Legislature,” compiled by James Hugo Johnston, Jr., Journal of Negro History 13, No. 1 (Jan. 1928): 88–89.
Excerpt
Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811
Petition Number, 5870, Southampton County, Dec. 9, 1811.
To the Honorable, the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia.
. . . Your petitioner entered into a contract with a certain Benj Barrett of said County for the purchase of Stephen a Negro man Slave, the property of said Barrett, & husband to your petitioner, for the sum of ten pounds annually for ten years, and the said Barrett farther bound himself to take the sum of ninety pounds if paid within five years & at the expiration of that time to make a complete bill of sale for the said Negro Stephen . . . Your petitioner farther states that she has paid the full amount of the purchase money and has obtained a bill of sale for the said negro Stephen; who (being her husband) she intended to emancipate after she had complyed with her contract, — but in some short time after as your petitioner has been informed an act of Assembly was passed, prohibiting slaves, being emancipated after the law went into operation, from residing in the state — Your petitioner farther states that she has a numerous family of Children by the said Stephen, who are dependent upon the daily labor of herself & husband for a support, & without the assistance of her husband Stephen they must suffer or become burthensome to their country.
Therefore your petitioner humbly prays that the legislature would take her case into consideration & pass a law to permit the said negro Stephen to reside in the State after emancipation, and to enjoy all the privileges that other free people of colour are entitled to . . .
Source: Jemima Hunt, Petition to “the Speaker & house of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia,” December 9, 1811, in “Manumission Petitions Presented to the Virginia Legislature,” compiled by James Hugo Johnston, Jr., Journal of Negro History 13, No. 1 (Jan. 1928): 88–89.
