Town of Colchester v. Town of Lyme
Supreme Court of Connecticut
This was an action for the support of a female, named Jenny, The cause was tried at New-London, September term, 183S, before Church J. In 1799, and for many years before that time, Jenny was the slave of Dr. Mather, who was then a resident and settled inhabitant of Lyme, and continued so to be until his death in 1832. In the year first-mentioned, Dr. Mather set free this slave, who was then fifty-six years of age, by giving her a letter of manumission ; and he never…
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This was an action for the support of a female, named Jenny, The cause was tried at New-London, September term, 183S, before Church J. In 1799, and for many years before that time, Jenny was the slave of Dr. Mather, who was then a resident and settled inhabitant of Lyme, and continued so to be until his death in 1832. In the year first-mentioned, Dr. Mather set free this slave, who was then fifty-six years of age, by giving her a letter of manumission ; and he never afterwards exercised or claimed any controul over her. There was no evidence that he obtained from, or made any application for…
1Opinion of the CourtChurch, J.
The pauper was, for many years, the slave of Dr. Mather, whose place of settlement was Lyme; and with her master the slave had a settlement in the same town. In the year 1799, when the pauper was fifty-two years old, her master, with her consent, gave to her a letter of emancipation, and thereby set her free from her servitude ; and then, with her former master’s approbation, she left his service and removed to the town of Colchester, where she has resided ever since, and for more than thirty years, has supported herself. If she had been a white person, or had never been a slave, it is…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Inhabitants of Huntington v. Inhabitants of OxfordSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1810
3Cited by2 opinions
- Frazier v. BoggsSupreme Court of Florida · 1896
- Town of Plainville v. Town of MilfordSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1935