A bill of sale was a contract between an enslaver and a potential buyer detailing the purchase of an enslaved person. The contracts typically stated the name and location of the enslaver, the name and location of the buyer, and the gender, name, and age of the enslaved person.
These bills of sale detail the purchase of Arthur (age 8), Louisa (age 50), Rose (age 15), Catharine (age 5 months), and Bill (age unknown) by enslaver S.P.C. Burford.
The Bills of Sale for Enslaved Persons are original handwritten receipts documenting three individual transactions that took place between 1835 and 1845.
This collection is available for research.
[Name of document, date.] Bills of Sale for Enslaved Persons, Mss.027. University of Puget Sound Archives & Special Collections. Tacoma, Washington.
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Bill of sale for the purchase of Arthur, age 8, by S.P.C. Burford from Virginia tobacco farmer and enslaver Philip Howerton on July 4, 1835, in Courtland, Lawrence County, Alabama.
Bill of sale for the purchase of Louisa, age 50, Rose, age 15, and Catharine, age five months, by S.P.C. Burford from enslavers Delap & Witherspoon on June 21, 1837, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bill of sale for the purchase of Bill, age unknown, by S.P.C Burford from enslaver John Martin on September 19, 1845.