In the decision, Chief Justice of the Oregon Territorial Supreme Court George H. Williams ruled against Nathaniel Ford, freeing the children of Polly and Robin Holmes.
[1][2] In 1844, Ford, facing mounting debts, mortgaged Holmes' oldest children, Eliza, Clarisa and William, to another slave owner before migrating to the area of present-day Rickreall in Polk County.
[1] In 1850, Ford released Robin and Polly from slavery, keeping four of the Holmes' children and threatening to sell the entire family back to Missouri.
[3] In 1853, George H. Williams was named chief justice of the Territorial Supreme Court, and within weeks ruled against Ford and ordered the children returned to Robin and Polly Holmes.
Then ten years later during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that would lead to the freeing of slaves in the parts of the United States in rebellion.