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By Chuck Hill
Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The American Slavery Collection is an artificial collection compiled from a variety of sources including donations of individual documents and purchases. The thirteen original items in this collection consist of ten bills of sale, one receipt, one document relating to manumission and the autobiography of a former slave who lived in Madison County, KY as a "free black" prior to 1850. There is also one item, a receipt that is probably a handwritten copy made in the early twentieth century. The collection provides primary source material to researchers and documents the slave trade in Kentucky.
The provenance of this material is not currently known [03/18/2005]. Several of the items appear to have been purchased for the Townsend Room Collections as there are clippings that describe the document and give a price. These documents will be indicated as [Purchase] after the description and the clippings will be found in the accession file. These documents have been added to this collection for ease of access and because they have no relevance as part of a larger collection.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives
Acquisition Source:
N/A
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Folder:
[
Folder 1],
[
Folder 2],
[All]
- Folder 1
- Barcode: 31234013924814
- Item 1: Bill of sale, 1796 Oct 6
- Caleb Lindsey, Newberry County, SC to Matthew Scott, Madison County, KY, for "one country born negro girl named Prissillah." The document indicates that the sale price is 75 pounds "lawful money of Kentucky" and that Prissillah is twenty years old.
- Item 2: Estate Settlement, 1819 Jan 4
- Settlement to divide the slaves belonging of the Joseph Ryland estate. The heirs, Parker E. Toddhunter and his wife Catherine Toddhunter nee Ryland, John F. Ryland, Elizabeth Ryland, Edwin Ryland, Joannah Ryland, Nancy Ryland and James Ryland received slaves but only their proper names were used, as follows: Sylvia & Henry, Polly & Nelson, Harriott & a child named America, Dangerfield, James, Rebekah & her child and and small boy named Moses, and Anderson & Morriah. Some of the heirs were also required to give cash to other heirs to make the values equal. [2009-005]
- Item 3: Bill of sale, 1830 Mar 26
- William Henry to Benjamin Powell, Scott Co., KY, for "a negro girl by the name of Maryetta about three years old." The sale price was $150, and an endorsement on the back indicates that Powell then sold the girl to Benjamin McDaniel on 27 Jan 1831 for $175. [From the J.T. Dorris Museum Collection. N.22]
- Item 4: Bill of sale, 1833 Feb 17
- William Hunt, MS to John G. Taylor, KY, for "a negro man named John." The sale price is $300 and John is about 22 years old.
- Preservation Notes: Needs preservation
- Item 5: Bill of sale, 1833 Apr 3
- John W. Anderson, Mason County, KY to D.P. Jackson for three negro men named and described as follows: Tom Kemper about 26 years, Tom Wall aged twenty-eight, and George aged about twenty-four; for and in consideration of the sum of nineteen hundred dollars." [Purchase]"
- Item 6: Bill of sale, 1835 Mar 2
- Morton A. Rucker, Caldwell County, KY to D.P. Jackson, Adams County, MS for "a negro woman named Eliza." The document indicates that Eliza is about 30 years old and the sale price is $500. [Purchase]
- Item 7: Bill of Sale, 1835
- Jno. P. Lasseen of Crittenden County, KY, MS to L.P. Jackson, KY, for a negro girl, ten years of age, named Jane." The sale price is $375.
- Item 8: Bill of sale, 1836 Apr 16
- Joseph P. Puryear to John G. Taylor for "one negro woman forty-five years of age named Peggy" for $220.
- Item 9: Receipt, 1838 Oct 31
- Richard White to Bailey Richardson, for "a negro boy named James about eight years old." The sale price was $400 and the receipt was witnessed by A. Batterton. [From the J.T. Dorris Museum Collection. N.68.4]
- Item 10: Receipt, 1840 Jun 9
- William Todd to John Love, for "a negro boy named Charles about fifteen years of age." [2002-014 - reproduction - see also Slavery in Kentucky call no. E445 .K5 M13 for another copy of this document]
- Item 11: ALS S.R. Chenoweth, Louisville, to an unspecified recipient, 1841 Mar 18
Dear Sir,
I received a letter from you concerning a negro man by the name of Jim Allen which you say you have in your custody. All that I can say is that he was committed to this jail on 1st November 1839, and was discharged on 24th Feb 1840 as a free man. He proved his freedom by a Mr. Frederick Harper, I think belonging [to] and an officer on board the Steamboat New Albany. I have no doubt myself but that he was a free man although I do not know the fact to satisfy yourself more fully that he is the same Jim Allen that was in this jail. Ask him what boat he went on when he got out of this jail. If he says the New Albany I think it will be right. Also ask him how much money Harper paid me for him, Allen. If he says $23.00 that will be right. I also send you a deposition of the Justice that discharged him.
Yours Respectfully,
S.R. Chenoweth
Jailor, Louisville, KY
- Item 12: Bill of sale, 1855 Sep 18
- Caroline R. McConnell to Samuel G. Wurts for "two negroes one a boy named Perry aged about 17 years and my girl Rhena aged about fifteen years." The sale price $1400 with $200 being paid down and the other $1200 due in one year at 6% interest. A receipt for the $200 is written below the bill of sale and indicates that it is "by C.L. McConnell." [From the J.T. Dorris Museum Collection. N.109]
- Item 13: Bill of sale, 1862 May 5
- S. Parish [Deputy Sheriff of Madison County, KY] "under execution in favor of John B. Walker against Albert Stagner and T.R. Stagner" to John G. Taylor for "a negro girl Milly" at a sale price of $381.
- Item 14: Bill of sale, 1863 Feb 2
- Harrison Perkins to John G. Taylor for "a negro woman named Martha aged twenty years and also her child named Nancy aged two years" for $550.
- Folder 2
- Barcode: 31234013924806
- Item 1: Manumission Agreement, 1819 Jul 31
- Agreement between Thomas McClean and Samuel G. Whyte, George Rankin and John McComb (trustees for the "United Society called Shakers") regarding the manumission of "a black boy named George at South Union, Logan County, KY. [From the J.T. Dorris Museum Collection. 76.1.1] Filed oversize.
- Item 2: A Sketch of the Life and Experiences of George White, a Colored Man, and born a Slave - written by himself. (A lesson to his children)., ca.1870
- An autobiographical letter about his life as a slave born in Maryland in 1790, where he was the property of Benjamin Burgess, and in Madison County, Kentucky, where he was the property of John White. He states that he had this autobiography written for him when he was a "very old man" in hopes that it would benefit his children and grandchildren as well as "all other in lowly condition." He mentions that since obtaining his freedom, he has also been able to "purchase the several members of my family who were born slaves." [Note: Madison County: 200 Hundred Years in Retrospect, p.114, states that George White "a free man of color" set his children & servants free in 1850. The Madison County census for 1860 lists a George White (black) as being 70 years old and born in Maryland as well as another George White (black) as being 43 years old and born in Madison County.] 2000-005. Filed oversize."
