?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) Letter reporting on the dispersal of a family's enslaved people in Tennessee. Autograph Letter Signed as "James" [Maury?] to unidentified brother in Brownsville, TX. 2 pages, 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, on one sheet; mailing folds, a bit of bleed-through, minimal wear. Franklin, TN, 18 February 1852
"Your letter from Brownsville was rec'd. . . . I suspect that the Perkins have sold as many Negroes as they wish at this time. Wm. P[?] sold to Merrill about 12 or 13, Dr. Peter some 8 or 10, and Edwin 21. Of those sold by Edwin, he bought back 4 at an advance, Buford bought 6 at a considerable advance, & the other 11 were sent, I believe, to the District [of West Tennessee?]. Sister Mary says that Ed is sick of selling & she does not think that he is disposed to sell any more. . . . As it regards Zeb's Negroes, if you have not sold, I don't see the use in selling, unless you can get a grand price. I question whether similar Negroes can be bought here for much less than they cost, considering the trouble of hunting them up, & the expense of getting them to Haywood. . . . If Virginia would take Carolina and Martha & one of her children, Zeb can then retain John & sell Victoria to meet his engagements here."
The author signs only as "James," but was apparently James Philip Maury (1804-1875). He mentions his sister Martha Thomas "Tommy" Perkins and her new daughter Leighla, and his brother Zebulon Pike Maury and wife Virginia.
