To the Commissioners appointed under the act of Congress approved April 16, 1862, entitled "An act for the release of
certain persons held to service or labor in the District of
Columbia."
Your Petition of Sarah E. King, of Georgetown,
D.C. respectfully
shews
shows
that she is a person loyal to the United
States, who, at the time of the passage of the said act of Congress,
held a claim to the service and labor of certain persons of African
descent, as her slaves for life, who, by said act, were discharged from said
claim; that said persons are of the names, ages & description and values
following, viz; Mary Chase, mulatto, aged about sixty four
years, four feet nine inches in height, of the value of one hundred and fifty
dollars; Rachel Coquire
, mulatto, aged about twenty eight years,
about five feet in height, of the value of six hundred dollars;
Selina Coquire
, mulatto, twenty four years of age, about
five feet three inches in height, of the value of one thousand dollars;
Mary Coquire
, mulatto aged seven years, about four feet
high, of the value of three
hundred dollars; John Coquire
, bright mulatto, aged five
years, about three feet high, of the value of three hundred dollars; and
Annette Coquire
, bright mulatto, aged two years and five
months, about two feet high, of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars; that
your Petitioner acquired said claim by purchase from the administrators of her
father, to whom said slaves had always belonged, and said claim, when
discharged, was of the value of twenty five hundred dollars in money; that said
Rachel is probably worth more than the amount above
stated, as her value, but as she broke her arm when a child, your Petitioner
states her value somewhat below its true amount considering the work she is
capable of performing and the wages she has brought; and that with this
exception, she knows of no defect, mental, moral or physical, tending to impair
the value of said slaves.
Your Petitioner hereby declares that she bears true and faithful allegiance to
the government of the United States
and that she has not borne arms
against the United States during the present rebellion,
nor in any way given aid or comfort thereto; that she has not brought said
slaves into the District of Cola since the passage of
said act, but held them therein, at said dates, as her slaves for life, nor does
her claim to them originate in any transfer by anyone who has in any manner
aided or sustained the present rebellion
Sarah E King