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; Fanny Butler by Thomas Du Hurst Merrick her attorney, preferred and filed in the General Court here, her Petition for Freedom against Rinaldo Johnson, which is in manner and form following towit: To the Honorable the Judges of the General Court. The Petition of Fanny 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 Rinaldo Johnson of Prince Georges County although the said Johnson is well informed of the justice of your Petitioners claim to Freedom: May it please your honors to compel the said Rinaldo Johnson 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 farther 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 Pet. Thereupon, on motion of the said Fanny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, it is ruled and ordered by the Court here, that the said Rinaldo Johnson do not remove the said Fanny 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 Fanny Butler   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 Rinaldo Johnson, to answer unto the said Petition of the said Fanny Butler; which said Summons issued accordingly, directed to the sheriff of Prince George County, in form following towit. The State of Maryland Sct To the Sheriff of Prince Georges County, Greeting: We command you that you Summon Rinaldo Johnson, 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 October next, to answer unto the Petition of Fanny 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 Fanny 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, Sheriff." And the said Rinaldo Johnson being so forewarned, comes into the General Court here, by Philip Barton Key his attorney: 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 Fanny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Rinaldo Johnson 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 October next; the same day is given to the parties aforesaid, then, andsoforth. At   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 Fanny Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Rinaldo Johnson 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 Fanny Butler by Gabriel Duvall her attorney, as the said Rinaldo Johnson by his attorney aforesaid: and the said Fanny Butler by her said attorney, files in Court here, the Deposition of Elizabeth Butler, which is in form following towit:

Abraham Butler
vs
Elizabeth Ridgate

Petition 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 when 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 Rinaldo Johnson by his attorney aforesaid, saith that he cannot deny the complaint aforesaid, of the said Fanny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, so as aforesaid made, nor but that the said Fanny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, is entitled to   to her Freedom, being the descendant of a Free white woman, in manner and form as the said Fanny Butler by her said Petition to the Court here preferred against him the said Rinaldo Johnson, above hath alleged; And thereupon, the said Fanny Butler, the petitioner aforesaid, by her attorney aforesaid, prays that she may be dismissed and discharged from the Service of the said Rinaldo Johnson, 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 Fanny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, recover of and against the said Rinaldo Johnson, her Freedom, and that she be hence freed and discharged of and from the service of the said Rinaldo Johnson, and that she the said Fanny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid go freed and discharged thereof without day, andsoforth. And it is further considered by the Court here, that the said Fanny Butler, the Petitioner aforesaid, recover against the said Rinaldo Johnson, the quantity of Five hundred and twenty eight pounds of tobacco, by the Court here unto the said Fanny Butler, one 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