December 2019 Auction Ends Thursday, December 12th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/12/2019
Lot of seven 19th century documents regarding slavery. List includes: (1) ''Bill of Sale'' for ''a male slave named George Warranted sound & healthy'' for the price of $1,200. Partly printed document from Charleston, South Carolina is dated 7 June 1854, signed by the seller M. McBride. Measures 8.5'' x 14''; very good plus condition. (2) Document dated 17 February 1855 from Jackson County, Arkansas, regarding a Probate Court commitment to sell a female slave and her child ''to the highest bidder''. Retained copy reads in part, ''I will apply for an order to sell Harriet a negro woman about nineteen years of age and her child Eavy about two years of age at...the Probate Court...To sell, at publick...to the highest bidder...February 17th 1855''. Measures 7.5'' x 8''; very good plus condition. (3) Partly printed tax document from 1861 from Washington County, Virginia reading ''Slaves, personal property...white and black titheables''. The taxpayer, Peter J. Davenport, signs on verso. Document measures 7'' x 2''. Very good plus condition. (4) Agreement to rent slaves and a plantation in Bradley County, Arkansas dated 17 December 1844. Handwritten document reads in part, ''in the sum of one thousand dollars...it being for the rent of said Ridgell's plantation and negroes for one year''. Signed by both buyer and seller at conclusion. Document measures 8'' x 12.5''. Separation along folds, and overall wear and discoloration; good condition. (5) Handwritten slave inventory, divvying up eight human beings among a deceased man's three heirs. Handwritten document reads in part, ''An Inventory of the Negroe Property belonging to the Estate of James D. Green Deceased''. Eight individuals are then listed, along with their monetary value ranging $800.00 for George at the top to $125.00 for Harriet at the bottom. The next page delineates three lots, allocating the slaves to each heir. Witnessed by the Justice of the Peace on 6 January 1852, no place listed. Bifolium document measures 7.75'' x 9.75'' as folded. Very good plus condition. (6) Handwritten promissory note dated 1 January 1861 to pay $225 to a Mr. Green, ''for the hire of a negro boy, which boy I take with the usual conditions of hiring annexed''. Signed by the two borrowers, one of whom was a prominent landowner in Arkansas. Measures 7.75'' x 7''. Small holes at folds, overall very good condition. (7) Retained copy of a court summons, dated 14 March 1860, for the recovery of ''property'', directed to the sheriff of Copiah County, Mississippi. Handwritten document reads in part, ''You are hereby commanded to summon Joel R. Davis to be and personally appear before the Circuit Court of Copiah County to be held at the Courthouse...to answer into the complaint of Richard B. Harper and Mary M. Harper his wife this day filed in said Court against him for the recovery of four certain negro Slaves as the property and separate estate of said Plaintiff...a woman named Patty of dark complexion about thirty years old age and of the value of fifteen hundred dollars and her three children to wit a girl named Frances of dark complexion about eleven years old of the value of twelve hundred dollars, a boy named Bill of dark complexion and about ten years old of the value of one thousand dollars and a girl named Alice of dark complexion and about eight years old of the value of eight hundred dollars''. With docketing on verso. Document measures 7.75'' x 11''. Very good condition. Both Joel R. Davis and Richard B. Harper are both listed as slave owners in the Copiah Co. 1850 census, with Davis owning 13 slaves and Harper 3 slaves.
Lot of Seven 19th Century Slave Documents -- ''Bill of Sale'' for Slaves, Taxes Levied for Slave Property, Inventory List of Slaves, Court Order to Recover Slaves, Etc.
Click above for larger image.