O Say Can You See

Be it remembered, that heretofore towit, on the Twenty fifth day of September in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety; Henny Butler by Thomas Duhurst Merrick her attorney, preferred and filed in the General Court here, her Petition for Freedom against Thomas Clagett, which is in form following towit: To the Honorable the Judges of the General Court. The Petition of Henny Butler humbly sheweth to your honors, that your Petitioner is well entitled to her Freedom, being the descendant of a Free white woman, but is illegally and unjustly detained in Slavery by Thomas Claggett of Prince Georges County, although the said Claggett is well informed of the Justice of your Petitioners claim to Freedom May it please your honors to compel the said Thomas Clagett by process from this Court to appear and answer the premises and also to grant subpoenas for Walter Pye of Charles County, and Ann Boarman of Saint Marys County to testify for your Petitioner and grant such further relief to your Petitioner as shall be consonant to justice and as to your honors shall seem meet and your Petitioner &ca

T D Merrick for Petitioner

Thereupon, on motion of the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, it is ruled and ordered by the Court here, that the said Thomas Clagett do not remove the said Henny Butler out of this State, nor obstruct her from attending this Court from time to time in support of her Petition for Freedom, preferred to the Court here; and in the mean time to feed, cloath and use the said Henny Butler, well; It is further ruled and ordered by the Court here that the writ of the State of Maryland of Summons issue forth out of the General Court here against the said Thomas Clagett to answer unto the said Petition of the said Henny Butler, which Issued accordingly, directed to the Sheriff of Prince Georges County in the words and of the tenor following towit. The State of Maryland Sct. To the Sheriff of Prince Georges County Greeting: We command you that you Summon Thomas Clagett, that all delays and excuses be set aside he be and appear before the General Court to be held at the City of Annapolis, on the second Tuesday of October next, to answer the Petition of Henny Butler   preferred against him for Freedom; Hereof he is not to fail, and fail not at your peril, and have you then and there this writ; Witness the honorable Thomas Johnson Esquire Chief Judge of our said Court the 17th day of June Anno domini 1790. (T. D. M.)

Issued the 25th day of September 1790. Jno Gwinn Clk.

At which said Second Tuesday of October, being the Twelfth day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety, and the day of the return of the aforegoing Summons, comes into the General Court here, the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid; and the Sheriff of Prince Georges County aforesaid, to whom the said Summons was in form aforesaid directed, makes return thereof to the Court here thus endorsed towit: "Summoned. Edward Lloyd Wailes, Shff". And the said Thomas Clagett being so forewarned, comes into the General Court here by Philip Barton Key his attorney; and thereupon, on motion of the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, it is ruled by the Court here, that the said Thomas Clagett enter into the usual and customary recognizance in such cases prescribed: Thereupon a certain James Boarman of Charles County in his proper person now here undertakes for the said Thomas Clagett and acknowledges himself to owe and stand justly indebted to the State of Maryland in the sum of One hundred pounds current money which he acknowledges shall be levied of his body goods and chattels lands and tenements to and for the use of the said State, on condition that the said Thomas Clagett does not remove the said Henny Butler out of this State nor obstruct her from attending this Court from time to time in support of her Petition for Freedom, exhibited to the Court here against him the said Thomas Clagett and in the mean time to feed, cloath and use her well, and pay whatever satisfaction the Court shall adjudge for the services of the said Henny Butler, from this Term to the time of the Judgment, with Costs. Thereupon, further process of and upon the premises aforesaid, between the parties aforesaid, by order of the Court here, is continued until the Second Tuesday of May next; the same day is given to the parties aforesaid, then, andsoforth.

At which said second Tuesday of May, being the Tenth day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety one, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Thomas Clagett by his attorney aforesaid: Thereupon, further process of and upon the premisses aforesaid, between the parties aforesaid, by order of   of the Court here, is further continued until the Second Tuesday of October next; the same day is given to the said parties, then, andsoforth.

At which said second Tuesday of October, being the Eleventh day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety one, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Henny Butler by Gabriel Duvall her attorney, as the said Thomas Clagett by his attorney aforesaid: Thereupon, further process of and upon the premises aforesaid, between the parties aforesaid, by order of the Court here is further continued until the second Tuesday of May next; the same day is given to the parties aforesaid, then, andsoforth.

And now at this day towit, the said second Tuesday of May being the Eighth day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety two, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Thomas Clagett by his attorney aforesaid: And the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid files in Court here, the Deposition of Elizabeth Butler, which is in form following towit.

Abraham Butler
vs
Elizabeth Ridgate

Peto for Freedom. Elizabeth Butler aged about sixty seven years being sworn on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God deposeth & saith that she has known Abraham the Petitioner many years and she thinks he was not above seven years old whe she first knew him; he is the son of Monica whom this Deponent well knew; and she was the Daughter of Jenny, whom this Deponent has seen and can remember her; which Jenny was the reputed Daughter of old Irish Nell. This Deponent further saith that she knows Bridget the Petitioner against Capt Mitchell, & has known her ever since she was about seven years old; she is Daughter of Chloe who has obtained her Freedom on a Petition against Nicholas Lewis Sewall; and this Deponent well knows Fanny who Petitions against Rinaldo Johnson; and Mary a Petitioner against the same person; and Henny a Petitioner against Thomas Clagett, they are all the Daughters of the aforesaid Chloe who is the Daughter of this Deponent, and the Deponent was present at the birth of the said Henny, Fanny and Mary & has known them ever since. Sworn to this 30th day of December 1791. Before the Subscriber one of the Justices of Anne Arundel County. Allen Quynn

Whereupon, the said Thomas Clagett by his attorney aforesaid, saith, that he cannot deny the complaint aforesaid of the said Henny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, so as aforesaid made, nor but that the said Henny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, is entitled to her Freedom, being descended from a free white woman, in manner and form as the said Henny Butler by her said Petition to the Court here preferred against him the said Thomas Clagett, above hath alleged; and thereupon, the said Henny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, prays that she may be dismissed and discharged from the service of the said Thomas Clagett, together with her costs and charges by her about the prosecution of her said Petition, to her to be adjudged, andsoforth. Therefore it is considered by the Court here, that the said Henny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, recover of and against the said Thomas Clagett, her Freedom, and that she be hence freed and discharged of and from the Service of the said Thomas Clagett and that she the said Henny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, go freed and discharged thereof without day, andsoforth: And it is further considered by the Court here, that the said Henny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, recover against the said Thomas Clagett, the quantity of Five hundred and twenty eight pounds of tobacco, by the Court here, unto the said Henny Butler, on her assent adjudged, for her costs and charges by her about the prosecution of her said petition in this behalf laid out and expended, and that she have thereof her Execution, andsoforth. Test. John Gwinn Clerk