A bill of sale for ‘Three Slaves’ - in fact three enslaved children of 15, 14 and 13 - who were sold by Roswell Beebe, future benefactor of Little Rock in Arkansas, to John Gusman, owner of huge tracts of land on the west side of the Louisiana river Bayou Bonfouca. Prepared for and signed by the New Orleans notary William Boswell, the document records the result of the auction sale and the sums involved as well as detailing the age, abilities and characters of the three youths at the centre of the transaction. A particularly complete example of its kind, this document also includes the buyer’s promissory note to pay for the three young men. Horrific as such documents are, they are frequently the only documentary evidence left by lives lived before emancipation and central to the task of reconstructing the existence of their subjects. We acquired this manuscript in Glasgow, itself a city with longstanding connections with slavery and the slave trade.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Eight page booklet written on foolscap sized paper (34x21cm) with old folds and secured by a red silk legal tie. The paper is browned and flaky, damaged along the foreedge of all four sheets and with a detached triangle of paper at the upper outer corner of the first sheet. Blind stamp of the notary William Boswell as well as his signature. The condition is extremely delicate with closed tears along several of the folds. Written in a secretarial hand, the first sheet is headed by printed particulars of the sale which took place on 6th December, 1833, the document being made in the ‘State of Louisiana, Ciry of New Orleans’ and issued by William Boswell in the presence of ‘Boswell Beebe of this City’ following an auction by ‘Hewlett and Bright auctioneers’ transferring ownership to John Gusman. The three enslaved people were: ‘Jourdan’, a 15 year old of ‘mild disposition’ who was sold for $910, having been previously acquired from Abner Robinson. Second was ‘”Elias” a negro, aged fourteen years... smart, active and intelligent... and his brother “Scye”’ a boy of thirteen, together for $1610. The two brothers had been acquired from Clement Townsend. Attached is the promissory note made in payment and endorsed by J W Zacharie, the bill of sale having been witnessed by Edward Barnett and Emile Wiltz. William Boswell has signed off the document as a true copy at the bottom of the fourth page with the promissory note attached opposite. On the verso of this third leaf is a docket title recording this as ‘Copy of Sale from Boswell Beebe to Henry Spearing 5th December 1833’ with several additional annotations which confirm completion of the contact and payment.
HISTORY: The seller of the enslaved boys was Roswell Beebe (1795-1856) the first benefactor of the city of Little Rock; their buyer John Gusman owned a large tract of land on the west side of the Bayou Bonfouca which included a brick works, no doubt the intended workplace of the young men.
