Senate Unpassed Legislation 1818, Docket 6097, SC1/series 231, Petition of Pamela Sparhawk

Petition subject: Property Original: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:11148852 Date of creation: (unknown) Petition location: Boston Legislator, committee, or address that the petition was sent to: Committee on new trials Selected signatures:Pamela Sparhawk Actions taken on dates: 1817-06-07,1817-06-09,1818-01-20,1818-01-20 Legislative action: Received in the Senate on June 7, 1817 and committed to the committee on new trials and sent for concurrence and received in the House on June 9, 1817 and concurred and received in the Senate on January 20, 1818 and committed to the committee on new trials and sent for concurrence and received in the House on January 20, 1818 and concurred Total signatures: 1 Legislative action summary: Received, committed, sent, received, concurred, received, committed, sent, received, concurred Females of color signatures: 1 Female only signatures: Yes Identifications of signatories: Native of Africa, [females of color] Prayer format was printed vs. manuscript: Manuscript Additional non-petition or unrelated documents available at archive: additional documents available Additional archivist notes: West Indies, Reverend Jonas Meriam and Jerusha Meriam of Newton, Samuel Bean, witness Timothy Fuller, [Samuel Bean signed the 1787 petition for funds to return to Africa and lived on the north slope of Beacon Hill and was on the 1800 warning out list], [“To the Honorable Senate & House of Representatives in General Court assembled-Humbly shows Pamela Sparhawk of Boston in the county of Suffolk widow, that she is a native of Africa & was brought from thence to the West Indies by a slave trader when she was about six or seven years of age, & that she was afterwards brought to this Commonwealth then Province of Massachusetts & was a slave in the family of the Rev. Mr. Merriam of Newton until the American Revolution since which time she has been free – That after her arrival in this country she met with one of her brothers who had also been brought into slavery, & that after he became free he acquired some property & purchased a small parcel of land in said Boston which is bounded Easterly on Belknap Street, southerly on land of Peter Smith, westerly on land of Nancy Princess, & northerly on land of Mr. Peirce with the buildings thereon, of which he died seized in April A.D. 1816, leaving no children & no heirs at law except your petitioner, & that his widow is since deceased – your petitioner further represents that her said brother whose name was Samuel Bean acknowledged her to be his sister & was satisfied of the fact, but that it would be difficult if not impossible for her in a court of law to establish her claim by proving her kindred to said Bean in consequence of the unhappy circumstances which will be easily perceived by the Honorable Legislature…\"] Location of the petition at the Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth: Senate Unpassed 1818, Docket 6097 Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-5105612), Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University, Institutional Development Initiative at Harvard University, and Harvard University Library.