Silvia's freedom papers reveal that her enslaver, John Cryer, attempted to negotiate under very strict and violent terms. In the papers, John Cryer did not request payment in specie or land, but requested to receive payment in human beings. He specifically required the Webbers to pay him two young enslaved children, a boy age 2 and a girl age 3. Records found by Dr. Maria Hammack demonstrate that the Webbers did not heed Cryer's request. On the contrary, the Webbers refused to make that payment and by 1850, the Webbers chose to forfeit a large portion of their Webberville property to settle the debt that they owed to Cryer for Silvia and her children's freedoms.
