O Say Can You See

Be it remembered that heretofore towit, on the Twenty Seventh day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty eight; Milly Butler by Jeremiah Townley Chase her attorney, preferred and filed in the General Court here, her Petition for Freedom against Henry Neale, which is in form following towit. To the Honorable Judges of the General Court for the Western Shore of Maryland. The humble petition of Milly Butler, Sheweth, that your petitioner is a descendant of a Free white woman, and as such is entitled to Liberty and all   the rights of a Free woman; that your petitioner has been most unjustly and wrongfully deprived of her liberty and is now held in Slavery by Henry Neale of Saint Mary's County: Your Petitioner therefore most humbly prays your honors will take her case into consideration and grant her such relief as she is by Law and justice entitled to, and that your honors will direct a Summons to issue to the said Henry Neale, to be and appear before this honorable Court by a certain day to be therein mentioned, to answer the premises, and your petitioner as in duty will pray & soforth. J. Toy Chase, for Petitioner. Thereupon, on motion of the said Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid it is ruled and ordered by the Court here, that the said Henry Neale do not remove the said Milly Butler out of this State, nor obstruct her from attending the 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 Milly 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 Henry Neale, to answer unto the said Petition of the said Milly Butler; which said Summons issued accordingly, directed to the Sheriff of Saint Mary's County in form following towit: The State of Maryland Sct To the Sheriff of Saint Mary's County, Greeting: We command you that you Summon Henry Neale, that all excuses and delays 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 Milly Butler, preferred against him for Freedom: Hereof he is not to fail on pain of five pounds sterling, fail not at your peril and have you then and there this writ. Witness Robert Hanson Harrison Esquire chief Judge of our said Court the 13th day of May Anno domini 1788.

Issued the 27th day of May 1788. J. T. Chase. Thos B. Hodgkin Clk

At which said second Tuesday of October, being the Fourteenth day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty eight, and the day of the return of the aforegoing Summons comes into the General Court here, the said Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid; and the Sheriff of Saint Marys County aforesaid to whom the said Summons was in form aforesaid directed, makes return thereof to the Court here, thus endorsed towit. "Summoned. John   John Cartwright, Shff." And the said Henry Neale, being so forewarned, comes into General Court here, by Luther Martin and Philip Barton Key his attornies: 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 Twelfth day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty nine, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Henry Neale by his attornies 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, and soforth.

At which said second Tuesday of October, being the Thirteenth day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty nine, come again into the General Court here, as well, the said Milly Butler by Samuel Chase her attorney, as the said Henry Neale by his attornies 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.

At which said Second Tuesday of May, being the Eleventh day of the said month in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Henry Neale by his attornies 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 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, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Henry Neale by his attornies 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.

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 Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Henry Neale by his attornies 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 and soforth.

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 Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Henry Neale by his attornies 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 Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid, as the said Henry Neale by his attorney aforesaid; And the said Milly Butler by her attorney aforesaid files in Court here, the Deposition of Joseph Butler, which is in form following towit The Deposition of Joseph Butler, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that Milly Butler the person who has petitioned against Henry Neal of Saint Mary's County, is the Daughter of Sarah Butler the Deponents mother. The Deponent saith that he is older than the said Milly Butler, and being asked how he knows the said Milly to be the Daughter of the said Sarah, answers that they were raised together on the same plantation, being then the property of George Sly and that the remembers his mother, the aforesaid Sarah suckled the said Milly, and that this Deponent minded or nursed the said Milly when she was a small child, and that he always understood she was the child of his mother, and never hand an Idea or heard any thing to the contrary. And further saith not. Sworn before Bullen.

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