Mary Jane Holmes Shipley Drake, born in Missouri in 1841, was one of six children of Robin and Polly Holmes. From 1852 to 1853 Mary Jane was the subject of a fifteen-month legal battle known as Holmes v. Ford to obtain her freedom. That battle also helped determine the status of slavery in the Oregon Territory. The Holmes family was owned by Missouri farmer Nathaniel Ford. In 1844 Ford brought the family west on the Oregon Trail, promising Robin and Polly their freedom if they would help him establish a farm in the Oregon Territory. Ford refused to honor his promise for five years after their arrival, finally relenting in 1849. He freed the parents and their new born son but refused to release nine-year-old Mary Jane and her other siblings including two who had been born in Oregon Territory. Ford intended to sell each of the four children when they reached adulthood. Ford’s refusal to release Mary Jane Holmes and her siblings prompted R...