485

Lot 485:Slavery Related Signed Document 1806

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Lot  485:Slavery Related Signed Document 1806
<b>Black History</b><hr><b>Washington’s Neighbor Invests In a Schooner - And Two Slaves</b>

<b>July 11, 1806, Washington’s Mt. Vernon Neighbor Records payments received for the purchase of “the Schooner William Henry & two Negro men Billy and Sam,” Very Fine.</b>
Document Signed, Alexander Spotswood - George Washington’s neighbor - being a Receipt for monies to be paid for a schooner, the William Henry, and two slaves, Billy and Sam; 1 page, 7.50” x 7.75,” no place, docketed on the back. In part: “Rec’d. of Mr. Robert Walker a Draft on Messrs. Richard & Stephen Winchester for seven hundred and eighty four dollars and 33 1/3 cents... Also one other draft on the same firm for three hundred dollars payable sixty days after date - also a bond for four hundred dollars payable the 10 day of January 1807 for and on acct. of Robert Beverly of George Town - Also another bond for four hundred dollars payable the 10 day of July 1807 - for and on acct. of William A. Washington [George Washington’s nephew] of Columbia - all which notes and bonds are given for the purchase of the schooner William Henry & two Negro men Billy and Sam,”

Here two of the greatest names in Virginia history buy human beings almost as an afterthought - but that said, Spotswood was known to have manumitted favorite slaves, and the Washington family, too, was particularly liberal in its attitudes toward slavery and manumission. The Washington mentioned here, William, was the President’s nephew, and the brother-in-law of Spotswood.