Garrett, Moses ²

  General Notes:

http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/free_Bracken.htm

Cain BRACKEN was born about 1798 in Virginia (per the 1850 census) or about 1807 in North Carolina (per the 1860 census). He was the slave of James B. BRACKEN of Sumner Co., Tenn., who officially gave him his freedom on 21 Oct 1834, in Union Co., Ill. (Marriage records of Sumner Co., Tenn., show James B. BRACKEN married Eliza BRACKEN on 20 Apr 1824.) Cain moved to Illinois and settled in Franklin (now Williamson) County, between 1830 and 1834.
Cain was arrested in Franklin County as a runaway slave by Moses GARRETT and Royal WILLIAMS, probably because he was not able to produce a certificate of freedom. They were early white settlers in Franklin County. Moses GARRETT (page 7, line 7) and Rial WILLIAMS (page 7, lin3 8) are on the 1818 territorial census of Franklin Co., Ill. Moses GARRITT appears on the 1830 census of Franklin Co., Ill. (page 101, line 11). Kidnapping of free blacks was occasional in Southern Illinois and perhaps not as rampant as the 29 Oct 1859, Illinois State Journal claimed. The report suggested that "Southern Illinois is infested with gangs of ruffians, who do nothing else but lie in wait for free negroes and who, when they catch one, make sale of him and pocket the money." Cain was able to file a suit in Jackson Co., Ill., court for false imprisonment and won. This is unusual, as by an 1829 Illinois law, African Americans could not sue for their liberty in court and an 1827 law said they could not even serve as a witness. Unfortunately, the Jackson County court records were destroyed in a fire in 1843.

Moses married Phoebe Hunt about 1797 in , , Georgia.¹ (Phoebe Hunt was born about 1780 in , , Virginia ³.)