Mrs. Lewis still had the freedom papers of her grandmother, Mary Stone-street. The papers—issued in Jessamine County, Kentucky, in 1853—described Mrs. Stonestreet as a “mulatto, aged 33 years.” The old document was a prized possession of the family and was so worn that it was in about three pieces.
Signed by Mr. Sering, the document was recorded in Madison when the family entered Indiana. The family settled on State Road 29 near the present site of Bryantsburg. The freedom papers bore the Kentucky seal, and, according to Mrs. Lewis, as long as the papers were kept, blacks could not be sent back into slavery by slave chasers.
Mr. Stonestreet, Mrs. Lewis’s grandfather, was a shoemaker by trade and made $500 worth of shoes to buy his freedom. When he married, his wife was given her freedom by her master, who was also her father. Their children, therefore, were born free, but had to have freedom papers before they could settle in Indiana.