"Hurried off" by a "fatal and malignant disorder," slave owner Bennett Taylor did not have time to make arrangements for his slave Isaac's emancipation. Arguing that the master had always intended to free him, Isaac, also called Isaac Harris, petitions to have his late owners' intentions executed and to receive permission to remain in Virginia. In a related document, Bennett Taylor's widow testifies that Isaac's "most faithful services" had been "frequent subjects" of Bennett's "observation and had made so deep an impression on his feelings that for many years before his death he appeared resolved to avail himself of the power which his affluence would give him of emancipating Isaac without affecting the future of his representatives." The widow adds that Bennett "would have done it in his lifetime but that as Isaac had belonged to the family of his father, some of whose slaves had not been very subornidate, he feared lest such an act might render them ore unruly than before." Nevertheless, the widow testifies that it was her husband's wish on his death bead that Isaac be emancipated after his death.
Result: Laid on the table.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
