To the Commissioners under the Act of Congress Approved 16th April 1862, entitled "An Act for the release of certain persons
held to service or labor in the District of Columbia.
Your Petitioner Dennis Johnston for himself & other
heirs of Francis Johnston Sr decddeceased by this his petition in writing represents & states that he 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 service or labor against
two persons of African descent of the names of George
Quander and Ned Quander, for and during the
life of the said George Quander and Ned
Quander; and that by the said Act of Congress the said
George Quander & Ned Quander
are discharged & freed of and from all claim of your petitioner to such
service & labor; that at the time of the said discharge said George
Quander of the age of 39 years, about 5
feet 8 inches high, brown & heavy made; and the said Ned
Quander was of the age of 37 years, brown, short & delicate
in appearance. That your petitioner acquired his claim to the aforesaid service
or labor of the said George Quander & Ned
Quander, by the decease of Francis Johnston
Senr who owned them for more than thirty years; that your
petitioner's claim to the service or labor of said George
Quander & Ned Quander, was, at the time
of said discharge therefrom, of the value of Fourteen hundred dollars each in
money.
Your petitioner hereby declares that he bears true & faithful allegiance to the
government of the United States, & that he has not
borne arms against the United States in the present
rebellion, nor in any way given aid or comfort thereto.
And your petitioner further states and alleges that he has not brought said
George Quander & Ned Quander
into the District of Columbia since the passage of the said
Act of Congress; and that, at the time of the passage thereof, said
George Quander & Ned Quander
were held to service or labor therein under & by virtue of your petitioners
claim for himself & his coheirs to such service or labor.
Your petitioner further states and alleges, that his said claim to the service or
labor of the said George Quander Ned
Quander does not originate in or by virtue of any transfer
heretofore made by any person who has in any manner aided or sustained the
present rebellion against the government of the United
States.
And your petitioner, for himself and his coheirs, prays the said Commissioners to
investigate and determine the validity of their said claim to the service &
labor of the said George Quander & Ned
Quander herein above set forth; & if the same be found to be
valid that they appraise and
apportion the value of the said claim in money, & report the same to the
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in
conformity to the provisions of the said Act of Congress.
Dennis Johnston for himself and
coheirs