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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Explore historical documents, research discoveries, and curated collections shared by our community of genealogists.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Historical Documents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 1448A. 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.
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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.
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.
Six Cusachs papers: Balaon freed, Mary Ann and children mortgaged, Isaac sold
Clarice Rillieux freed Balaon. Anatole Laurent mortgaged Mary Ann and her three children. Sales of La Concession plantation and of Isaac.
Related documents found