Fourth Generation Inclusive

At a General Assembly, begun and held at Fayetteville, on the second Day of November, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Nine, and in the Fourteenth Year of Independence of the said State; being the first session of the said Assembly.  Samuel Johnston, Esq., Governor.

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

An Act to Invest an Indefeasible Right of Inheritance in Charles, Alley and Prudence Oggs, the Surviving Natural Children of John Oggs, of the County of Pasquotank, of such Property as was Bequeathed to them and their Deceased Brother Jesse Oggs.

Whereas, it hath been made appear to this General Assembly, that John Oggs late of the county of Pasquotank, hath departed this life, leaving behind him four natural children, Charles, Alley, Prudence and Jesse, by his negro slave Hester, to whom he bequeathed all his real and personal estate by virtue of a certain last will and testament: And whereas, by the policy of the law the said children, being bastards, are debarred from the rights of inheritance, and being recommended to this General Assembly as persons of good fame: And whereas, Jesse, one of the children is dead:

I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the above mentioned Charles, Alley and Prudence Oggs, are hereby invested in an indefeasible right of inheritance of all and singular the lands and tenements, goods and chattels which were bequeathed to them by their father John Oggs, in virtue of his last will and testament; and that they hold and take the said property to them and their heirs and assigns forever, agreeably to the directions of the said will, and the intentions of the said John Oggs therein expressed.

And whereas, the within mentioned Hester, and her children Charles, Alley and Prudence Oggs, are recommended to this General Assembly by several very respectable inhabitants of the counties of Camden and Pasquotank, as worthy of being manumitted and set free agreeable to the intention of their father John Oggs:

II. Be it therefore enacted, That the said negro woman Hester, and her children Charles, Alley and Prudence Oggs, are hereby manumitted and set free to all intents and purposes, and to possess all the rights and privileges as if they had been born free.

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Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1789. Colonial and State Records of North Carolina.