Halifax County Slavery Petitions- State: North Carolina Year: 1790- Location: Chowan County
Researched and compiled by: Deloris Williams for the NCGenWeb Project, Inc.
Following are abstracts of petitions filed by Halifax County citizens from the Digital Library on American Slavery Collection. These records include the names of many slaves and can be very valuable for those researching their slave ancestors. I've included the outcome of the petition if it was indicated in the record.
-Deloris Williams
State: North Carolina Year: 1790
Location: Chowan County
Edmund Blount recounts that his sister Elizabeth married Halifax County merchant Andrew Miller, who fled to Bermuda in 1776 "in a State of Distress." Blount further states that he purchased "five Negro men" held by Miller "for the Sum of Sixteen hundred Pounds the then Currency of this State." He states that he hired three of said slaves "to Gentlemen in Hallifax where they were employed in the Boating Business Being used to it & Prefered it to farming." Blount reveals that, despite his right to the three slaves, a commissioner of confiscated property "took them into his Possession and sold them."
Blount "humbly prays that he may Receive such Relief in Regard of the Premises as to the wisdom & Justice of the Legislature shall seem meet."
Result: Senate, House: read, referred
Slaves:
Bob - black male
Caesar - black male
Charles - black male
Hungate - black male
Jamaica - black male