O Say Can You See

Be it remembered, that heretofore towit, on the Fourteenth day of February in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety two; Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler by Gabriel Duvall their attorney preferred and filed in the General Court here, their Petition for Freedom against John de Butts, which is in the words and of the tenor following towit: To the Honorable the Judges of the General Court. The Petition of Anna Butler, humbly sheweth, that she and her two children Moses & Frank are held in Slavery by John De Butts, Esquire of St Marys County and she is advised that she is entitled to her Freedom, being descended   descended in the female line from Eleanor Butler a Free white woman. She therefore prays your honors, the premisses being considered & the facts proved, to discharge her & her children aforesaid from the further service of the said John de Butts; and she will pray and soforth. G. Duvall, for Petitioners.

Thereupon, on motion of the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler by their attorney aforesaid, it is ruled and ordered by the Court here, that the said John De Butts do not remove the said Anna Butler and her two children named Moses Butler and Frank Butler out of this State, nor obstruct them from attending this Court from time to time in support of their Petition for Freedom, preferred to the Court here; and in the mean time to feed, cloath and use the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank 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 John de Butts to answer unto the said Petition of the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler; which issued accordingly, directed to the Sheriff of Saint Mary's County in the words and of the tenor following towit. The State of Maryland Sct To the Sheriff of Saint Marys County Greeting, We command you that you Summon John De Butts Esquire of Saint Mary's County that all delays and excuses set aside, he be and appear before the Judges of our General Court to be held at the City of Annapolis on the Second Tuesday of May next, to answer unto the Petition of Anna Butler and her two children Moses and Frank 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 Samuel Chase Esquire Chief Judge of our said Court the 29th day of December Anno domini 1791.

Issued the 14th day of February 1792. (GD.) Jno Gwinn Clk.

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, and the day of the return of the aforegoing summons, come into the General Court here, the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, by their attorney aforesaid; and the Sheriff of Saint Mary's County aforesaid, to whom the said summons was in form aforesaid directed, makes return thereof to the Court here thus endorsed towit. "Summoned. F. Hamersley, Sheriff". And the said John de Butts being so   forewarned, comes into the General Court here, by Philip Barton Key his attorney; And the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler by their attorney aforesaid, file in Court here, the Deposition of John Butler, which is in form following towit

Lydia Butler
vs
Nicholas Swingle

John Butler aged Seventy one years or thereabouts being duly sworn on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God deposeth & saith that he knows the Petitioner Lydia now present, who is Daughter of Betty who obtained her Freedom on a Petition against Henry Hill, which Betty was Daughter of Phillis, Daughter of Elizabeth commonly called Abijail, who was Daughter of Nel Butler. And he further saith that he well knows Anne Butler, Moses Butler and Frank Butler, who have Petitioned against John De Butts of St Mary's County, and well knows Henny the mother of the said three children has known her ever since she could speak, she is the Daughter of Anne Butler, which said Anne and Henny are now present, and the said Anne, the Deponent always understood to be the grand Daughter of Nel Butler. And the said Henny has petitioned as he is informed against Henry Hill her present master. And he further saith that he well knows Nace, Katy and Lymus the children of the aforesaid Henny who have also petitioned against the said Henry Hill their present master. Sworn 18 May 1792. Before Bullen.

Whereupon, the said John De Butts by his attorney aforesaid saith, that he cannot deny the complaint aforesaid of the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler the Petitioners aforesaid, so as aforesaid made, nor but that the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, the Petitioners aforesaid, are entitled to their Freedom, being descended in the female line from Eleanor Butler, a Free white woman, in manner and form as the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, by their said Petition to the Court here preferred against him the said John De Butts, above have alleged: and thereupon, the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler by their attorney aforesaid, pray that they may be dismissed and discharged from the service of the said John De Butts, together with their costs and charges by them about the prosecution of their said Petition, to them to be adjudged, andsoforth. Therefore it is considered by the Court here that   that the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, the Petitioners aforesaid, recover of and against the said John De Butts their Freedom, and that they be hence freed and discharged of and from the service of the said John De Butts, and that they the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, the Petitioners aforesaid, go freed and discharged thereof without day, andsoforth. And it is further considered by the Court here, that the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, the Petitioners aforesaid, recover against the said John De Butts the quantity of Five hundred and eighty three pounds of tobacco, by the Court here unto the said Anna Butler and her two children Moses Butler and Frank Butler, on their assent adjudged, for their costs and charges by them about the prosecution of their said Petition in this behalf laid out and expended, and that they have thereof their Execution, andsoforth.

Test. John Gwinn Clerk.