Were there instances of slave owners that purchased slaves and nominally "kept" them but really only did so to free the individuals and would hire them on and treat them like fellow humans?

by AustinioForza

RickAstleyletmedown

This has been asked before. There are some decent answers in this thread but others may be able to add more info.

EDIT: multiple commenters in the link but highest top level comments by /u/BradInBlack, /u/ryan_holiday, and /u/QuietChronicler