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Malinda and Nelly, people of color, by and through their next friend, Beriah Cleland v. Robert Wilburn

December 1, 1821 - June 11, 1824

Petitioned on June 11, 1823

Filed before the St. Louis County Circuit Court (St. Louis, Missouri)

Case ID: hc.case.mo.0140

Case Summary

Malinda, a free person of color, is suing Robert Wilburn for trespassing, assault and battery, and false imprisonment with the use of force and arms. Wilburn allegedly beat, bruised and mistreated Malinda and her child Nelly while she was enslaved by him. He kept her without any probable cause. Wilburn moved across state lines and Malinda is arguing that this should constitute her freedom. She is attempting to sue as a poor person via her friend Beriah Cleland for the amount of $500. The court found that Wilburn was only passing through Illinois and had no intention of residing there with Malinda, denying her status as a free woman and that Nelly may follow her mothers status.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Interpersonal

Petition subtype(s)

  • Wrongful enslavement

Sites of significance

Outcome

Writ denied

Fate of bound party

Remained in custody

State

  • Missouri

People

Source Materials

The complete case file for this petition has not been found. Information here has been gathered from court journals, indexes, or dockets. You may contact the repository and provide the citation information to request digital scans or print copies of those records, but they are not likely to yield more information than is represented here.

Repository(s)

Case citation

St. Louis Circuit Court, October Term, 1823, Case No. 8

If you are teaching, publishing, or presenting from this work, please cite this page.

Type of source(s)

Digitized Case File

Length of case file

Between 31 and 40 pages

Cite this page

If you are teaching, publishing, or presenting from this work, please cite this page as:

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “Malinda and Nelly, people of color, by and through their next friend, Beriah Cleland v. Robert Wilburn.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed April 4, 2025. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.mo.0140

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