Mar 28, 2019 - Sale 2503

Sale 2503 - Lot 55

Price Realized: $ 469
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Reed, Gabriel. Manumission document issued to a 5-year-old Kentucky boy "of mulatto complexion." Manuscript Document Signed by Reed and the county clerk, one page, 12 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches, with docketing on verso; folds, minor wear. Gallatin County, KY, 9 December 1839

Additional Details

"I Gabriel Reed . . . do hereby manumit and emancipate my negro boy named George Reed of mulatto complexion, straight hair, about 5 years of age." Although we have no proof, a manumission of a small child may suggest that the owner was also the father. Gabriel Reed was a fairly affluent Irish-born hotel-keeper. In the 1850 census, 15-year old George was still living with the Reed family as a free black. He is probably the George Reed, barber, listed as mulatto in the 1870 census for Louisville in 1870, and Cincinnati for 1880.