506

Lot 506: Alabama Slave Hire Receipt, 1845

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Lot  506: Alabama  Slave Hire Receipt, 1845
<b>Black History</b><hr><b>Alabama Slave Hire Receipt</b>

<b>1845. Certification That Four Slaves Have Been Hired At Various Amounts For A Period Of One Year.</b>
Manuscript Document in the hand of one Francis S. Bassett, noting the wages brought in by hiring out slaves; 1 page, 8' x 10', [County of Washington, Alabama], April 28, 1845. Docketed on verso. Very Fine; toned, slightly separated at edge of folds. In full: 'Amend return of the hire of Negroes belonging to the Estates of Thomas B. Bowling, Guardian, to wit, One Negro Boy Joshuaway $70.00, One woman Da $38.00, One boy Washington $14.00, One woman Molley $12.00 [=] $134.00. I certify that the above is a true Statement of Negro hire for the year one thousand & forty-five. Francis S. Bassett [docket] F. S. Bassett guardian, Returned a/e, Of Negro Hire 1845, Received in Book of Invintions, April 28, 1845 Attest, Page 57, H.J.Y. Moss Rgr.'

Between five and ten percent of all Southern slaves of the late antebellum period could expect to be hired out. Ordinarily these were common field hands and domestics. Many came - as this document evinces - from the relatives of deceased slaveowners, in the process of settling the estate.

History, quite incidentally, notes that Francis S. Bassett, in whose hand this document is, fell from his horse and died of wounds sustained from the saddle horn.