Overseers of the Poor v. Overseers of the Poor
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
NEGRO TOM, a pauper, was removed by an order . . * r ’ T / a jr- , two justices of the peace of Umon county, from Buffaloe township in that county, to the township of Ferguson in the county of Centre. J On an appeal to the Quarter Sessions, the order of the justices was reversed, and the pauper ordered to be returned to the township of Buffaloe, which was directed to pay the costs of the removal and appeal. The proceedings removed to this Court by certiorari.
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NEGRO TOM, a pauper, was removed by an order . . * r ’ T / a jr- , two justices of the peace of Umon county, from Buffaloe township in that county, to the township of Ferguson in the county of Centre. J On an appeal to the Quarter Sessions, the order of the justices was reversed, and the pauper ordered to be returned to the township of Buffaloe, which was directed to pay the costs of the removal and appeal. The proceedings removed to this Court by certiorari. It appeared, that in the year 1780, when the act for the gradual abolition of slavery was passed, the páuper, who was then thirty years…
1Opinion of the Court
The Courts’ opinion was delivered by
Gibson J.
In 1780, when the act for the gradual abolition of slavery was passed, the pauper was a slave of the age of thirty years. In 1796, James Jenkins, his master, residing in Ruffaloe township, Northumberland county, sold him to John Patton, who resided in what is now Ferguson township, Centre county, with whom he lived several years, but whom he eventually left; after which, he returned to Northumberland county, where, for a few years, he supported himself by his labour. Whether the registry exhibited, Was intended to be applicable to the person of the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Overseers of Poor of Forks in Northampton County v. Overseers of Poor of Catawessa in Northumberland CountySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1810
3Cited by1 opinion
- McGunigal v. MongSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1847