O Say Can You See

Be it remembered, that heretofore towit, on the Thirtieth day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety two; Basil Shorter by Gabriel Duvall his attorney, preferred and filed in the General Court here, his Petition for Freedom, which is in form following towit. To the honorable, the Judges of the General Court. The Petition of Basil Shorter humbly sheweth, that his held in Slavery by Charles Carroll of Washington County, and he is advised, that he is entitled to his Freedom being descended on the female line from a Free White   Woman named Elizabeth Shorter. He therefore prays your honors, the premises being considered to discharge him from the custody of the said Charles Carroll, and that Summons may issue for the said Charles Carroll to answer the Petition; and he as in duty bound will pray & so forth. G. Duvall for the Petr.

Thereupon, it is ordered by the Court here, that the writ of the State of Maryland of Summons issue against the said Charles Carroll to answer unto the Petition aforesaid of the said Basil Shorter, which was accordingly issued, directed to the Sheriff of Washington County in form following towit. The State of Maryland Sct. To the Sheriff of Washington County, Greeting. You are hereby commanded to Summon Charles Carroll late of Washington County, that all excuses and delays 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 Basil Shorter, 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 the said Court the Thirtieth day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety two. Issued the 30th day of May 1792. (G. Duvall) John Gwinn Clerk.

At which said second tuesday of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety two, being the day of the return of the said aforegoing writ of Summons, comes into the General Court here the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, and the Sheriff of Washington County, to whom the said writ of summons was inform aforesaid directed, makes return thereof to the Court here thus endorsed towit. "Summoned, Henry Shryock, Sheriff of Wash: County. Whereupon, comes into the General Court here, the said Charles Carroll, by John Thomson Mason his attorney. And on motion of the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, it is ruled by the Court here, that the said Charles Carroll enter into Recognizance to the State of Maryland, in the usual form, andsoforth: Thereupon a certain John Thomson Mason, present in Court here, acknowledges himself to owe and stand justly indebted to the State of Maryland in the sum of One hundred pounds current money, to be levied of his body, goods, and chattels, lands and tenements, to and for the use   of the said State of Maryland, on condition that the said Charles Carroll doth not remove the said Basil Shorter out of this State, nor obstruct him from attending the Court from time to time, in support of his Petition for Freedom exhibited in the said Court against the said Charles Carroll, and in the mean time to feed, cloath and use him well, and pay whatever satisfaction the Court shall adjudge for the services of the said Basil Shorter from this Term to the time of the Judgment, with costs. And the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid, defends the force and injury when and soforth, and prays leave of the Court here, to imparle until the second tuesday of May next, and to him it is granted; the same day is given to the said Basil Shorter also. At which said second tuesday of May in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety three, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid. And the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid: And the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid: And the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, files in Court here the Deposition of Wilfred Neale, which is in form following towit. Wilfred Neale of St Mary's County aged fifty two years being sworn in this cause on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God deposeth and saith that he does not know the Petitioner; he has been informed there was a boy in the family of his uncle William Neale, named Basil; that he does not know that that boy is the present Petitioner; that his uncle William Neale has been dead upwards of twenty years; that he knew Jenny the mother of Lucy who belonged to his said Uncle; that Jenny belonged to his Grand father Roswell Neale, and after his decease, to his son Raphael Neale to whom she belonged when the Deponent knew her; that Jenny was a yellow woman and used to be called Jenny Short; that he has heard his Father say that Lucy was all that his Uncle William Neale got of his mother's estate; and that his Father's Mother's maiden name was Chandler. Being asked if he has heard how, or from whom, his Grand father Roswell Neale got the aforesaid Jenny? Answers he does not. Being asked if he ever understood that there was a white woman who lived in the family of his great grand father? Answers he never did. Being asked if he ever understood what the name of Roswell Neale's father was? Answers, he has understood it was Anthony Neale. Being asked if he has   understood that the aforesaid Jenny was descended from a white woman answers that about five or six years ago when the Butlers got free by Judgment of the General Court, it was the common talk of the neighbourhood that several other families, the Shorts and Mingoes now called Thomas's, would probably petition: Being asked if he heard any reason assigned why these families would petition? Answers, that it was generally supposed that as the Butlers had got Free or would get Free that those two families would petition; and that they had the same or an equal right. Being asked if he remembers to have heard what Jenny's Mother's name was? Answers he did not. Being asked if has ever heard or if he knows how the aforesaid Jenny and Lucy her daughter came into the family of his Ancestors? Answers that his the Deponents Grandfather intermarried with the sister of a Mr Chandler in Charles County and that he this Deponent has often heard his Father say that himself and his Brother never got from their mother's family any property except one negro each and that the said Lucy was the negro which William Neale the Uncle of this Deponent got of his Mothers Estate; Being asked if he knows or has heard how many sons Anthony Neale had? Answers that he knew Roswell Neale his Grandfather; and Bennet Neale (priest) who has been dead about six or seven years; and Charles Neale who died some few years before Bennet, that he did not know any of the others, but has understood that he had two other sons, one named Raphael, the other, Edward. Sworn to in open Court this 1st June 1793. Jno Gwinn Clk

And the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid, as before, defends the force and injury when and soforth, and prays leave of the Court here, further to imparle until the second tuesday of October next, and to him, it is granted; the same day is given to the said Basil Shorter also. At which said second tuesday of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety three, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid And the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid, as before, defends the force and injury when and soforth, and prays leave of the Court here further to imparle, until the second tuesday of May next, and to   him it is granted; the same day is given to the said Basil Shorter also. At which said second tuesday of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety four, come again into the General Court here as well the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid: And the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid as before, defends the force and injury when andsoforth, and prays leave of the Court here further to imparle until the second tuesday of October next, and to him it is granted; the same day is given to the said Basil Shorter also. At which said second tuesday of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety four, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid: 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. And now at this day towit, the said second tuesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety five, come again into the General Court here, as well the said Basil Shorter by his attorney aforesaid, as the said Charles Carroll by his attorney aforesaid: Thereupon the parties aforesaid, by their attorneys aforesaid, agree to submit this case to the decision of the Court here on the Testimony filed in Court here in the case: Whereupon all and singular the premises between the parties aforesaid, by the Court here being seen, heard and fully understood, and mature deliberation thereupon had, for that it appears to the Court here, that the said Basil Shorter, the petitioner aforesaid, is entitled to his Freedom, being descended in the female line from a Free white woman named Elizabeth Shorter, as he is by his Petition to the Court here hath alleged: Therefore it is considered by the Court here, that the said Basil Shorter the petitioner aforesaid be Free, and discharged of and from the services of the said Charles Carroll; And that he the said Basil Shorter the petitioner aforesaid go thereof discharged and soforth. And it is further considered by the Court here, that the said Basil Shorter, the petitioner aforesaid, recover against the said Charles Carroll the quantity of Eight hundred pounds of tobacco, by the Court here unto him the Basil Shorter on   his assent adjudged for his costs and charges by him about the prosecution of his Petition aforesaid laid out and expended; and that he have thereof his Execution andsoforth.

Test. John Gwinn Clerk.