Nelson Talbot Gant was freed from slavery in September 1845 in Loudoun County, Virginia, by the last will and testament of his owner, John Nixon, but his wife, Maria, remained enslaved by Jane Russell of Leesburg. Because Virginia law required him to leave the state within a year of being freed, he reluctantly departed in October 1846, promising to return for her. He went to Zanesville, where many former Nixon slaves had settled, and there gained the help of abolitionists and Underground Railroad agents in Zanesville and Putam across the Muskingum River. In November he returned to Virginia and tried again to buy Maria, but when his offer was refused, the two left together. They were captured in Washington, D.C., jailed, and a month later taken to Virginia, where Maria was returned to her owner and Nelson remained imprisoned. On December 12, 1846, he was tried for stealing his wife and was acquitted because a wife could not be compelled to testify against her husband. Two months later, friends in Ohio and Virginia had raised enough money to purchase Maria’s freedom. In June 1850, Nelson, Maria, and their one-year-old daughter returned to Zanesville, where he bought land along the National Road for a home and farm and prospered by growing and selling specialty vegetables.