Forty residents of Humphreys County ask the legislature to grant free people of color Sampson and Nancy the right to use the surname "Black" and "a right of distribution of property." The petitioners state that the said Sampson "acumulated a sum of money sufficient to purchase his own freedom from his [original owner] and also sufficient to purchase his wife a woman of colour from her former owner who was both duly Emancipated in open court." Avowing that the couple has acquired a "sufficient stock of property for their support," the petitioners assert that Sampson and Nancy are "respectable citizens." They therefore pray "that your Honorable body should give the said Sampson the name of Sampson Black and the said Nancy the name of Nancy Black and their two children ... the names of Wilson Black and Nancy Ann Black."
Or you may view all people.
Repository: Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee
