Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -
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Sale 2697 - Lot 355

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(SLAVE TRADE.) Documentation of a slave sale gone wrong among American expat merchants in Havana. 13 documents in one folder; folds, minor wear. Various places, 1806-1832
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William Frost (1781-1823) was a Maine native. After serving as a naval surgeon, he settled in Cuba, traded as a merchant, and purchased a coffee plantation. He was part of a substantial network of Americans in Cuba who profited from the legality of the slave trade after it had been banned in the United States.

The longest and most important document is a 15-page lawsuit on sealed 1820 Spanish paper filed by Frost's attorney against a Benjamin K. Churchill who had sold him a free Black man as a slave ("autos criminales sobre la venta de un negro libre hecha en calidad de esclavo a mi podendante por Mr. Benjamin Kehurchin"). Another American expat, Juan Guillermo Bequor of Philadelphia (originally John William Baker) makes an appearance, "en poder del qual ultimo permanenian varios negros, procedentes dela Costa de Africa." A summary of evidence in Frost vs. Churchill in English is also included.

Among the documents in this collection are his application to practice medicine in Cuba, 1809; his receipts for trade goods including nankeen fabric from China, spyglasses, and coffee; and correspondence with New York merchant William Stevens, 1815.

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