Reginald Butler has done research on manumissions of this sort in Goochland
County. His dissertation would be a good source. He quotes Ira Berlin
("Slaves Without Masters," p. 144.) -- "slaveowners, imitating the Quaker
practice, frequently sold or willed bondsmen to a friend or a free Negro
with the provision that the 'slave' be allowed to work on their own, keep
their wages and enjoy all the rights allowed free people of color."
Henry Wiencek
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