Know all men by these presents, that I, Robert E. Lee, executor of the last will and testament of George W. P. Custis deceased, acting by and under the authority and direction of the provisions of the said will, do hereby manumit, emancipate and forever set free from slavery the following named slaves belonging to the Arlington estate, viz: Eleanor Harris, Ephraim Demicks, George Clarke, Charles Syphax; Selena Grey and Thornton Grey and their six children Emma, Sarah, Harry, Anise, Ada and Thornton; Margaret Taylor, and her four children Dandridge, Jhon, Billy and Quincy; Lawrence Parks and his nine children- Perry, George, Amanda, Martha, Lawrence, James, Magdalena, Leano and William; Julia Ann Check and three children Catharine, Louis and Henry and infant of the said Catharine, Sally Norris and Len Norris and their three children Mary, Sally and Wesley; Old Shaack Check; Austin Bingham and Louisa Bingham and their twelve children Harrison, Parks, Reuben, Henry, Edward, Austin, Lucius, Leantche, Louisa, Caroline, Jem and an infant; Obadiah Grey, Austin Banham, Michael Merriday, Catharine Burk and her child; Marianne Burke and Agnes Burke: Also the following slaves belonging the White House estate, viz: Robert Crider and Desiah his wife, Locky. Zack Young and two children, Fleming Randolph and child; Maria Meredith and Henry her husband, and their three children Nelson, Henry and Austin, Lorenzo Webb, Old Daniel, Calvert Dandridge, Claiborne Johnson, Mary and John Stewart, Harrison, Jeff, Pat and Gadsby, Dick, Joe, Robert, Anthony, Davy, Bill Crump, Peyton, Dandridge, Old Davy and Eloy his wife, Milly and her two children, Leanth and her five children; Jasper, Elijah and Rachel his wife Lavinia and her two children, Major, Phill, Miles, Mike and Scilla his wife and their five children Lavinia, Israel, Isaiah, Lobsey and Delphy; old Fanny and her husband, Patsey, little Daniel, and Cloe, James Henry, Milly, Ailsey and her two children, Susan Pollard Armistead and Molly his wife, Airy, Jane Peter Bob, Polly, Beetsy and her child, Molly, Charity, John, Reuben, George Crump, Minny, Grace, Martha and Matilda: Also the following slaves belonging to Romancoke estate, viz: Louis, Jem, Edmond, Kitty and her children Mary, Dandridge and an infant; Nancy, Dolly, Esther, Seneca, Macon and Louisa his wife, Walker, Peggy, Ebbee, Fanny, Chloe Custis, and her child Julia Anne, Elvey Young, and her child Charles, Amy Johnson, Anne Johnson, William and Sarah Johnson and their children Ailsey Crump, Molly and George, James Henry and Anderson Crump, Major Custis and Lucy Custis, Nelson Meredith and Phoebe his wife, and their children Robert, Elisha, Nat, Rose and Sally, Ebee Macon, Martha Jones & her children Davy & Austin; Patsey Braxton, Susan Smith and Mildred her child, Anne Brown, Jack Johnson, Maxwell Bingham and Henry Baker
And I do hereby release the aforesaid slaves from all and every claim which I may have upon their services as executor as aforesaid.
Witness my hand and seal, this 29th day of December in the year of our Lord
eighteen hundred & sixty two
R E Lee (Seal)
Exr of G. W. P. Custis
State of Virginia; County of Spottsylvania to wit
I, Benjn S. Cason, Justice of the Peace in and for said County, do hereby certify that Robert E. Lee, executor of the last will and testament of George W. P. Custis, a party to the foregoing deed of emancipation, this day personally appeared before me, and acknowledge the same to be his act and deed. Given under my hand this 29 day of Decr 1862
Benjn L. Cason (JP)
City of Richmond, to wit,
In the Office of the Court of Hustings for the said City, the 2d day of January 1863.
This deed was presented and with Certificate annexed, admitted to record at twelve o’clock N.
Teste
Ro Howard, Clk.
(Endorsed)
( Teresa Roane provided the information above )
So Lee freed all his inherited slaves 12/29/1862 !
The Emancipation Proclamation, was a presidential proclamation* and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
(*Unless authorized by Congress, a President's proclamation does not have the force of law.)
And Lincoln freed "ZERO" slaves !
