PAR #: 11682205
Location: PAR #: 11682205
Location: PAR #: 11682205
Location: Goochland County, VA • Year: 1822

Abstract: As a slave, Moses performed many duties for his mistress, the widow Judith Peers, overseeing other slaves, caring for livestock, putting in crops, and transporting the crops to market. He also managed a grain mill, manufacturing flower for his owner and her neighbors. On one occasion, when a fire broke out in the middle of the night, Moses sounded the alarm and saved his owner's life. Following his mistress's death, he was transferred to Dr. Thomas Peers, the widow's son, for payment of debts. The doctor hired him out Reverend Jack Cross to manage another mill. Cross proposed to purchase Moses, and permit him "at reasonable and stipulated wages to serve him a time sufficient to reimburse the purchase money as a ransom of his subsequent liberty." When Moses fulfilled the bargain, paying $450, he applied to the county court for residency, but his petition was denied. Moses then added that he had also performed meritorious service by revealing to his mistress rumors of insurrection plots. He asks to remain in the state.