Richmond County Court 3d of April 1739
Cross v Tarpley &c. The suit in Chancery between Dorothy Cross Complainant and John Tarpley and Newman Brockenbrough, Gent., Respondents, the Complainant in her Bill sets forth that her late Husband, Arthur Cross, deceased, did by Indenture agree with John Tarpley to serve three years in the Quality of a Miller in consideration that the said Tarpley should bye the Complainant of one John Cary whose Servant she then was and discharge her from service &c. which accordingly the said Tarpley did and she the said Complainant afterwards marryed to the said Cross and lived in a state of perfect Freedom, nevertheless after the death of her Husband the said Tarpley claimed her as a Servant and did actually sell the Complainant to the said Newman Brockenbrough who now detains her in servitude, therefore prays that upon a fair hearing if equity appear on her side she may be discharged from her servitude &c.
The Respondents having put in their Answer to the said Bill and made Oath thereto and the Complainant having replyed the Cause coming on this day to be heard in the presence of both partys, it is the opinion of the Court that the said Complainant was a free person at the time of the sale above mentioned and that the said Respondents or either of them have no right to detain the said Complainant in servitude, it is therefore ordered and decreed that the said John Tarpley\'s Executors, who died pending this suit, and likewise from the servitude of Newman Brockenbrough and from the servitude of any person claiming her as a Servant, by any right of title from the said Defendants or of either of them, she being hereby declared to be a free person and it is further ordered that the said Respondents pay costs. (1)
Was her husband, Arthur Cross, the Miller, also an imported servant?
(1) Ruth Sparacio and Sam Sparacio, Richmond County, Virginia Orders 1738-1740 (McLean, Virginia: The Antient Press, 2000), 24, citing Richmond County, Virginia Order Book 1732-1739, 705-706.