William Williams, a free man of color, seeks to resolve an ownership dispute and asks for an injunction against Thomas Duvall to prevent him from selling Williams's wife and child out of the District of Columbia. Williams had hired himself out to Duvall for eight or nine years and requested that the payment for his services be used to purchase his wife and child, then owned by Thomas Berry. Duvall paid the purchase price for Williams's wife and child and obtained the slaves, along with a bill of sale, which he later used as his claim of ownership. Williams claims that his wife and child have been "in his possession & maintained without any expence to said Duvall," but now Duvall them and placed them in jail with the purpose of selling them to slave traders. Williams's wife escaped, but his two-year-old child is still missing. Williams asks for an injunction to prevent Duvall from selling or removing his wife and child. He also asks the court to cancel the bill of sale.
Result: Partially granted.
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Repository: National Archives, Washington, D. C.
