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Documents, discoveries & records
Explore historical documents, research discoveries, and curated collections shared by our community of genealogists.
Sold Again
These papers were written to buy, sell and hunt Black people. Many are still being sold today.
I searched 12 auction houses and found 1,865 of them: bills of sale, wills, inventories and runaway ads. The ones with a price listed sold for more than $3.3 million.
The first sale treated a person as property. Now the paper does too. The buyer gets the document. The family gets nothing.
We are not buying them. We are recording them, so families can find their people for free.
1,865
papers found
$3.3 million+
in sales
12
auction houses
Historical Documents
Showing 60 of 1607A. J. Fannin estate inventory naming 36 people, Dallas County, Ala., 1844
Inventory of A. J. Fannin's estate listing 36 people by name, sex and value, plus his other property. It notes a watch, a loom and old bedclothes were given to the people held there. The names are in the photos.
Eugene M. Gaillard mortgage of Henrietta, Emiline, Philip, Ned, Bob and Peny, Berkeley County, S.C.
Eugene M. Gaillard, a planter of Berkeley County, gets back his $2,200 bond and the mortgage of six people, Henrietta, Emiline, Philip, Ned, Bob and Peny, and transfers all claim to them to Hannah P. Stoney. The listing was on the site in 2022 and has since been taken down.
Related documents found
John Hollenshead estate inventory with five adults and two children, Lumpkin County, Ga., 1848
Court inventory of John Hollenshead's estate. It lists Dick, Brutus, Ben and Jack, and a woman named Louise with her two children, along with land, furniture, cattle and a still.
Related documents found
John Jones estate inventory naming 28 people, Garrard County, Ky., 1812
Court inventory and appraisal of John Jones's estate. It lists his horses, cattle and tools, and 28 people by name with a value for each. Lucy is listed with her child.
Related documents found
John Jordan estate list with 8 adults and 2 children, including Old woman Rachael, Pike County, Ga., 1863
Inventory of John Jordan's estate, May 1, 1863: 650 acres and people named Bill, Burrel, Sealy, Susan, Ellen with her two children, Thomas, Jane and Rachael, an old woman marked as valueless.
Related documents found
Memphis estate sale list: Nat, Jim, George, Betty, Adeline, Lydia and a mother and child, about 1850
A list of people sold in Memphis to settle an estate. Nat went to L. R. Coe for $850. Jim, George, Betty, Adeline and Lydia were also sold, and T. B. Dawson bought a mother and child for $535 and another child for $193.
Related documents found
New Jersey probate paper, 1746, listed by the dealer as a manumission
The dealer lists this as a manumission, but the photo shows a 1746 New Jersey probate grant under Governor Lewis Morris, proving a will at Trenton. If the will freed anyone, the photo does not show it. Needs a closer look.
Nicholas Talbot sells Anthony Jr., Allen, Charlotte and her sons George and Moses, Bourbon County, Ky., 1863
Nicholas Talbot sells to Henry Bruce Anthony Jr., 20, Allen, 14, and Charlotte, 24, with her two children, George, 3, and Moses, 1.
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Petition to divide the Culpepper estate: Jack, Milberry, Austin and Jerry, Alabama, 1856
Erasmus Culpepper, guardian of the Clarke children, petitions the probate court. On February 1, 1856, the people held by the late E. Culpepper Sr. were divided, and the children's share was Jack, a man, Milberry, Austin and Jerry, boys, valued at $4,750 in all.
Related documents found
The Star, Raleigh, with a runaway ad and a notice about a man named Brister, 1812
A Raleigh newspaper with a sale ad for land and enslaved people, a $25 reward for a man who ran away, and a notice about "my Negro man Brister," held in the Raleigh jail on a murder charge.
William H. Robinson estate receipt dividing 37 people among five heirs, Marianna, Fla., 1849
Receipt of the heirs of William H. Robinson for their shares of his estate, including 37 people split five ways. Walter J., George W. and James D. Robinson, Isaac Widgeon for his wife, and Widgeon as guardian for Ann and Isaac Robinson each received a group. Filed June 1, 1870, by county judge William E. Anderson.
Related documents found
Winfred Rodgers gives Patsy, also called Martha, about 30, to her daughter Charlotte Jones, Macon County, Ala., 1852
Deed of gift. Winfred Lane Rodgers gives Patsy, also called Martha, about 30, and any children she may have, to her daughter Charlotte Jones.
Copy of Bill of Sale of enslaved laborer by Joseph Peralta to his wife
Sale 2066: Books in All Fields with Literature, Americana, Maps, Comic Books, Photographs, Art, Posters - Timed Online A.. Typed official document. Three leaves. 33x22 cm (13x8½"). Two copies. Official document from the Parish and City of New Orleans documenting the sale of a slave from Joseph Peralta to Felicite Galban, his wife. Here, later copies transcribed in English, as the original had been written in French. Condition: Minor toning, light creases; very good.
Guardian account for Apple and Sophia Landrum kept by Francis Landrum, with reference to hiring and sale of slaves they owned
Sale 2066: Books in All Fields with Literature, Americana, Maps, Comic Books, Photographs, Art, Posters - Timed Online A.. Ink manuscript leaf from a ledger book, written on both sides. 32x19.2 cm (12½x7½"). Francis Landrum was the guardian of both Sophia and Apple Landrum, daughters, it seems, of Elias Landrum, likely Francis' deceased brother. Four yearly summations are given, two for each of the orphans. Featured are the cash on hand (around $1500 for Sophia, and a few hundred dollars less for Apple), accrued interest, the cost of room, board and schooling, and, most interesting, revenue from the hiring out of Sophia's slave Edmund (at $100 per annum), and Apple's slaves Jenny and Penny (until Jenny was sold for $536) at an adjusted rate of $110. Condition: Minor wear, old folds, very good.
Letter by New England man working in the slave South on the eve of Civil War
Sale 825: Americana – Travel & Exploration – Jim Hier Collection of U.S. Presidents – World History – Maps, Prints & Vie.. Autograph Letter Signed. 2 pp. To his “Parants [sic]”; dated July 8, 1860. Semi-literate 22 year-old blacksmith and tanner from New Hampshire, working in the deep South, required to go out “after a runaway negrow to day”, takes a dim, if racist, view of enslaved servants: “Tell mother I would like to see her and all the rest of you I would like for her to have a lot of these negrows to wait up on her a spell to see how soon she would get sick of them…” Condition: Small separations at folds, ink stains, wear along edges with chip at bottom not affecting text; fair or better. Headline: Yankee in Virginia chases runaway slave
Manuscript document reporting African slave who attacked and killed slaveowner, 1827
Sale 853: Americana - Manuscripts - Baseball - Travel & Exploration - Maps & Views One sheet, all handwritten in ink. 20.5x15 cm (8x6"). Manuscript record of an African slave of Lucimi descent who attacked his slaveowner, inflicting mortal wounds. Signed and dated in Nueva Florida (New Florida), in 1827. At the time, Florida was a territory of U.S., not yet a state, though had been recently acquired from Spain in 1821. Condition: Minor toning, few small holes; very good. Headline: Slave murdering slaveowner in New Florida 1827
12 slave trade ship manifests from ships entering the port of Charleston
Sale 853: Americana - Manuscripts - Baseball - Travel & Exploration - Maps & Views 12 sheets, handwritten in ink. Each approx. 29.5x21 cm (11½x8¼"). Written in Spanish. Each sheet a record of a ship coming into the port of Charleston, including information on ship name, captain, provenance, date, and number of male (varones) and female (hembras) slaves. Records journeys of ships Eliza, Patty & Lidia, Resolucion, and others. Includes information on the importation of slaves, a practice Congress outlawed in 1808. Condition: Minor toning, chipping at edges, some worming; very good. Headline: 12 slavery ship manifests Charleston
Passport for four slaves from Guanajay, Cuba
Sale 838: Rare & Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts: Selections from the Professor George Starr Collection (with addition.. 31x21.5 cm (12¼x8½"). Partially printed document, with manuscript ink on paper. August 27, 1867. Passport allowing the movement of four slaves, most probably a mother and three children. Listed are Maria, 27 years old, and three children ages 4, 8, and 10. Several official stamps, with later institutional stamp. Condition: Wormholes, ink offsetting, toning, creasing; still very good. Headline: Passport for four slaves, likely mother & children
Notice of sheriff's office seizing property including slaves
Sale 849: Americana - Travel & Exploration - Maps & Views Printed and handwritten official document. One leaf. 32.5x20 cm (12¾x8"). Official document from the Sheriff's Office of Orangeburgh District, South Carolina, regarding the foreclosure of mortgage, and the seizure of property from slaveowner Elias Whetstone. Property seized in the form of slaves, named here as one woman Nelly with her two children Eliza and Isaac, who were sold at public auction. Signed by four men at bottom, with further writing to verso regarding the testimony of witnesses and the recording of this foreclosure in a county book. Condition: Minor toning to edges, trimmed corners, loose at one fold; very good. Headline: Mortgage Foreclosed South Carolina Slavery 1824
Notarized manumission manuscript document, freeing a Black woman, in French
Sale 849: Americana - Travel & Exploration - Maps & Views Notarized manumission manuscript. One leaf, affixed to sheet bearing translation. 14x20 cm (5½x8") manuscript on 28x21.5 (11x8½") sheet. Signed by the Notary Public of New Orleans, H. Pedesclaux, with official seal to manuscript leaf. Notarized document certifying that Mr. Pierre Soulé intends to free his slave, Maria, "mulatresse", as well as her child, Louise, age five. Signed March 20th, 1834. Text in French. Original manuscript adhered to sheet with typed translation, with Bay Area real estate office letterhead to verso. Condition: Minor toning to edges, creases to sheet; very good. Headline: Freedom for enslaved woman in NOLA, 1834
Estate appraisal, with enslaved workers
Sale 849: Americana - Travel & Exploration - Maps & Views Handwritten manuscript. One leaf, folded. 33x38 cm (13x15"). Official appraisal of the estate of William Paschall of Wilkes County, Georgia, in the year 1807. One folded leaf with "Inventory and appraisement of the Estate of William Paschal died Georgia Wilkes County..." to front also marked "9 slaves" who are listed in the inventory of property included. Condition: Minor toning; few stains; very good. Headline: Estate Appraisal Including Slaves Georgia
Mortgage on an enslaved woman
Sale 853: Americana - Manuscripts - Baseball - Travel & Exploration - Maps & Views Handwritten bill of sale by way of mortgage. Three leaves folded, one affixed by wax seal. 32x20 cm (12½x8"). Mortgage document transferring the ownership of a young Black female slave by the name of Rodey, age six, from slaveowner Samuel Walker to Obadiah Wright. Two leaves written by Obadiah Wright, signed by Wright and Walker, recording the deal and transfer of the girl for a sum of two hundred and sixty dollars. Inserted and affixed by wax seal is a document of Walker's oath recording the transfer of ownership, signed by Walker and an official of Wilkes County, Georgia. Folded in four, with note that this mortgage was recorded in a county book dated 1830. Condition: Minor toning to edges, few chips at edges, minor tape repair; very good. Headline: Mortgage document for enslaved woman in GA
Regulated Slave Trade. From the Evidence of Robert Stokes, Esq., Given Before the Select Committee of the House of Lords, in 1849.
Sale 2067: Books in All Fields with Literature, Americana, Maps & Views, Antiquarian, and Art ix, 24 pp. (8vo) 21x12 cm (8¼x4¾"), pale blue wrappers. Second edition. Lacks folding map. From the preface: "The following evidence of Mr. Stokes, a gentleman who has the longest and fullest practical knowledge of all the facts connected with the English Slave Trade of former times, has been reprinted from the Report of the Lords' Committee [1849], as it affords, from the most authentic sources..." Stokes was the author of "The Foreign Slave Trade: Account of its Present State, and of the Laws and Treaties Relating Thereto" and "A Memoir of the Life of Z. Macaulay, as Connected with the Abolition of Slavery and of the Slave Trade". Condition: Light spotting to wrappers; minor toning throughout; very good.
Six Cusachs papers: Rosalie freed, Marie Antoinette and children, Pauline Toussaint's sons
Includes Rosalie freed in 1821, Joseph Martin's petitions to free Marie Antoinette and her four children, and Pauline Toussaint's petition to free her sons.