Mar 21, 2013 - Sale 2308

Sale 2308 - Lot 42A

Unsold
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
A DETAILED SLAVE SALE BROADSIDE. (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) [SLAVE SALE BROADSIDE]. Administrator's Sale. . .On Tuesday, the Eighteenth of May Next to the highest bidder. . .at the Elliston Plantation. . .Slaves, To wit:" There follows a list of over 150 slaves, by name, with remarks, "with child" etc. Single large folio leaf, 21- 1/2 x 15-1/2 inches; printed in a variety of typefaces; matted with two manuscript fragments from the administrator's office relating to this sale. Adams County, Mississippi, 1841
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Additional Details

An exceptionally large administrator's sale of the slaves of Mr. Thomas Ellis, of Elliston Plantation. Broadsides like the present one, with its detailed list of slaves, can provide valuable genealogical information for African American families attempting to find traces of their ancestors. In fact there is already at least one slave name database for this purpose. Many of the slaves listed here have surnames other than Ellis and would have been acquired from other masters. Quite a number have something distinctive about their name or their description: i.e. "Kanglee," an African sounding name, or "Lyora with child." Large sales like this one, normally forced by debt, would have broken many families up, however, there are at least 22 women listed as "with child," that were being offered thus. The livestock, numbering one hundred and sixteen head of sheep and sixty-one head of cattle along with all the farming equipment of the Plantation was on the block as well. One of the most detailed and extensive plantation sales we have ever seen.