either the offspring of members of their own race who had been set at liberty, or they were slaves who had been emancipated by their masters. In many cases, the bestowal upon them of all the rights of freedom had been without restriction. This was the course pursued by Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., with reference to his slave Kate, to whom liberty had been promised by his wife before her death.[1] In other cases, the gift was made subject to certain conditions, either temporary or permanent in their nature. John Farrar, of Henrico, in emancipating a negro who had grown to old age in his service, required that until the following Christmas he was to remain on the estate to which he was then attached, and was to take an active part in producing the crop to be planted in the course of that year.[2] Tony Bowyer, the property of Richard Bennett, was liberated by his master on condition that he should deliver annually eight hundred pounds of tobacco, and the General Court, after the death of Bennett, required Tony to furnish ample security for the payment of this amount.[3] Under the will of Mrs. Beazley, which was admitted to probate about the middle of the century, one of her slaves was devised to a kinsman for a term of eight years, and, at its expiration, he was to be set free, and the customary allowance under the circumstances, of three barrels of Indian corn and a suit of clothes, was to be made to him. The negro was assigned by his mistress to a Mrs. Lucas, who, after compelling him to remain in her employment three years longer than the will of Mrs. Beazley prescribed, at the end of that time forced him to sign a paper binding him to continue with her during the course of twenty years.
