At age ten, Henry Mason was bound out to Charles Jennings of Sussex County for seven years by his owner Joseph Mason. Mason served as an apprentice bricklayer. In 1844, as an adult, he was emancipated by the executor of Mason's last will and testament, Joseph W. Mason, and obtained permission from the Petersburg Hustings Court to remain in the area, but confined to that "place," i.e., Petersburg. Mason now works for some the "largest and most respectable builders" in Richmond, but as it is "difficult at all times to get profitable employment in the town of Petersburg at such wages as his skill as a workman justly and fairly entitle him to, and finds, that his labour in other parts of this state is much more needed, and that with the privilege of moving about to other places he can be of more benefit to the Community as a labourer and at the same time get more profitable employment for himself," he seeks permission to reside in any other place in the Commonwealth of Virginia "where his services may be most needed."
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
