Lizzy Purdie, a fifty-eight-year-old free woman of color, represents that her late owner emancipated her in his last will and testament and "he devised a small property to aid her for support in the decline of life." Noting that "her relations and friends" are all here, Purdie admits that "she is most sincerely anxious to remain in the County of Isle of Wight, if it be the pleasure of the general Assembly to grant to her that boon." The petitioner confides that "to be required now and forced to go into a foreign land at her advanced age, would be an evil to her much worse than slavery, and she would take upon her now a state of bondage with a good master of her choice rather than go away." Purdie promises the General Assembly "that she shall not become a public charge" if "you will allow her to remain" in Virginia."
Result: Bill.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
