Thomas Embree was a Quaker Lawyer who moved his family through a variety of southern states until they settled in Ohio. Sometimes they moved in response to the issue of slavery, sometimes just because better business opportunities arose in another state. He was the lawyer on a number of cases where slaves were suing current/or former slave owners over their status as free people of color. His family moved to OH in the early 1800's. The descendants of his family have provided us with all the documentation they have on their experience in Tennessee, Virginia, and Ohio.

Here is the information about the depositions...

The depositions were taken in Winchester, VA on Saturday July 5, 1800.

The witnesses deposed were:
(1) Joseph Plummer (White Male 22) whose father Samuel Plummer devised all of his estate to his wife Sarah Plummer, including the slave "Molly" (who was the mother of Milly). This occurred in 1753. Molly was emancipated in 1773 and Milly was born free in 1791.
(2) John Trimble (White Male 54) testified about knowing Molly as free woman and that Milly was born free. Molly also had a husband named Coffee who was a slave of Ignatius Perry.
(3) Finally Sarah Brown (White Woman(?) 47) Also testified about knowing Molly and Milly.
(4) According to the oath of the person who took the depositions, there was a fourth witness named Dr. Robert Pottinger, but we do not have his transcript.

All said Milly went to work for John Squibb, who was from Berkeley County, VA and then moved to Tennessee taking Milly with him.

That's all we know about this. We did try to get the original court proceedings but the court house in Tennessee stated that their records for that time period were destroyed in a fire.