(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION) MARYLAND Proof of Freedom for Willia

Sale 2408 - Lot 16

Price Realized: $ 500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) MARYLAND. Proof of Freedom for William Beatly, 19 years. Single long folio leaf, written on one side only, docket number on reverse; paper toned; short closed tear at one of the folds. Initialed at the bottom by what appears to be three people. Frederick Town, MD, 1805

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a very interesting early document of freedom. An official court document which attests to the free status of one William Beatly, 'the son of Edward Younger and Polly Beatly, free Negroes residing in Frederick Town and County . . . age about 19 years. 5 foot three inches high, of middling dark complexion, having a scar on his right [ ? ], produced by a burn.' The judgment reinforces an earlier ruling from 1796. When there was an 'affidavit of Abm. Levy who obtained a judgment for his [William's] freedom . . .' It seems that William might have been seized by a 'certain P.H.B.' One of the more intriguing documents we have seen.