I represent Manuel, an enslaved negro man in the household of Bernardo Pargas and Ortauna Maria del Carmen, the free woman of color who shared his home. Bernardo freed me by deed of manumisison made in 1836, only days before he wrote his will. In that will, I am referred to as a “black free man,” and I was left five shares of the saw mill which Bernardo owned at that time, as well as half of the goods of his house and part of a cash debt that was owed him. I was also granted the use for five years of two enslaved people from Bernardo’s household, though I was not granted ownership as they were to be manumitted by his executor at the end of the five years. I later married Victoire de Villiers and had four children with her.