Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Robert Moody (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51680
Petitioned for Freedom, Queen Anne's County, Maryland 1812

Biography:

Robert Moody was a slave of Richard Ireland Jones in the early 19th century. In May, 1803 Moody challenged his bondage by Jones and submitted his freedom petition to the Queen Anne's County Court. Following multiple continuances, the case was heard in May, 1812; using transcripts from three freedom petitions filed by immediate relatives, Moody and his counsel William Carmichael successfully petitioned for his freedom. The decision was upheld by the Court of the Appeals for the Eastern Shore in 1813. His was the fourth of four related freedom petitionsconcerning a decades long illegal enslavement surrounding Wye Island.

A 1681 provincial law stipulated that "all Children borne of such ffreeborne women, soe manymitted & ffree as aforesaid shall bee ffree as the women soe married"; this legal discrepancy between mulattos borne of free mothers with slave fathers and mulattos borne of free fathers and slave mothers essentially transferred freedom through the maternal line no matter how many generations removed and, if proven, invalidated bondage.1 Robert Moody claimed to be the great-grandson of a free Indian woman named "Indian Mary" or "Indian Moll" who was brought up in the home of Philemon Lloyd of Wye Island but whose children were commonly regarded as slaves.

Robert Moody v. Richard Jones

Richard Ireland Jones was a prosperous man. As of 1810 Richard he owned sixty-two slaves in his Queen Anne's County property;2 in 1790 the median number of slaves per Queen Anne's County slaveholder was eighteen.3 In 1811 he was licensed by Queen Anne's County to run two public ferry boats between Broad Creek on Kent Island to Annapolis.4 During Moody's suit, Jones attempted to abort the petition process and reinforce his defense by claiming that Moody "ought not to have or maintain his Petition against [him] because he saith that the said Robert Moody on the day of proposing the petition...was a slave." Moody's attorney William Carmichael successfully argued that Moody was a "free man and of free condition, and not a slave" and thus not precluded.5 

Carmichael presented records of three cases as evidence that Moody was legally entitled to freedom: Margaret Creek against William Wilkins, Rachel Baker and others against John Paca, and Thomas Carver against Samuel Lloyd Chew. After first proving the death of Elizabeth Chew, Carmichael entered an earlier deposition she gave for Caver v. Chew into evidence. Perhaps beause Caver v. Chew was likely settled out of court, the evidence was submitted "as proof of pedigree" rather than proof of a direct relationship to persons named within it.6

The jury at Moody's trial was convinced by the evidence from these three petitions. They found in favor of Moody and awarded him  $105.63 and one-third cents compensation.7 Jones' attorney argued that Moody did not adequately prove his pedigree concerning the slave Margaret, who was discussed at length in the Carver v. Chew petition. In response Carmichael introduced the testimony of a "mulatto man with wooly head" named Cesar Boose who stated that Jones purchased Moody from William Paca, whose estate was on Wye Island, fourteen or fifteen years earlier.8 Were it not for this sale, Moody would likely have been freed with his great-grandmother, grandmother, great aunt and great uncle, mother, uncles, aunts, and cousins in Baker v. Paca. 

The defense counsel "objected to the admissibility of the witness alleging him to be a negro [and] precluded by the Act of Assembly";9 the defense likely cited a law similar to an 18th Century act stating that "no Negro, or Mulatto Slave, Free Negro, or Mulatto born of a White Woman...[or] or any Indian Slave, or Free Indian Natives...be admitted and received as good and valid Evidence in Law, in any Matter or Thing whatsoever...wherein any Christian or White Person is concerned."10 The court however ruled that it was incumbent upon the defense to prove whether Boose "was a negro slave [or] free negro descended from a slave."11 Jones filed four exceptions, formal objections to court proceedings that he could use to file an appeal. Although not all of Jones' exceptions are described, they likely concerned the admission of all three freedom petitionsand Cesar Boose's testimony.

The case was given to the Court of Appeals for the Eastern Shore the following month but was issued a continuance until the next session.12 The case appears again on the Court of Appeals Docket in June, 1813, which states the court's decision: The Court of Appeals for the Eastern Shore affirmed the Queen Anne's County Court judgments for all exceptions, however Judge Buchanan broke from his colleagues and dissented on the fourth exception.13 Jones' exceptions to the Queen Anne's County Court judgments were not numbered however it is likely that exception four concerned Boose's testimony. 

For a family tree of the eighteen slaves who claimed descent from Indian Mary click the "Images" link in Moody's introductory page.

Footnotes - 

1. Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, September 1681.  "An Act Concerning Negroes & Other Slaves." Archives of Maryland Online, Vol. 7, p. 203, http://aomol.net/000001/000007/html/am7--203.html

2. Ancestry.com, United States Federal Census, 1810, Queen Anne's County, p. 14

3. Number derived from original research based on compiled census  information available from the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Website

4. Frederic Emory, Queen Anne's County, Maryland: Its Early History and Development (The Maryland Historical Society, 1950) p. 66

5. COURT OF APPEALS (Judgments, Eastern Shore) S380-28 No. 19 Richard Jones vs. Robert Moody Jun. 1813, p. 7, 01/63/09/013  [MSA SC 4239-1-5]

6. Ibid., p. 11

7. Ibid., p. 9

8. Ibid., p. 60

9. Ibid.

10. Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, v. 33 pg. 111, 1717-1720. "A Supplementary Act to the Act relating to Servants and
Slaves." http://aomol.net/000001/000033/html/am33--111.html

11. COURT OF APPEALS (Judgments, Eastern Shore) S380-28 No. 19 Richard Jones vs. Robert Moody Jun. 1813, p. 60, 01/63/09/013  [MSA SC 4239-1-5]

12. COURT OF APPEALS (Docket, Eastern Shore) 1807-1851, June, 1812, no. 118, 01/67/06/007 [MSA S413-6]

13. COURT OF APPEALS (Docket, Eastern Shore) 1807-1851, June, 1813, no. 19, 01/67/06/007 [MSA S413-7]

 

Researched and Written by Alex Champion, 2013

Return to Robert Moody's Introductory Page


 
 
 


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