Slave Receipts/Bills of Sale, Catey and Children, Cloey [Chloe], a Girl, and Frank, PC.2094

[Identification of item], PC.2094, Slave Receipts/Bills of Sale, Catey and Children, and Cloey [Chloe], a Girl, and Frank, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C., U.S.A.

Two slave receipts/bills of sale, with one for Catey, and her three children, Mary, Richard, and Sally; and the other for Cloey, a girl. The documents are dated 4 May 1853 and 5 March 1862, respectively. The former was a manuscript receipt given at Wilmington, N.C. by Ansley Davis to Speir [Spier] Walters, in the amount of $1000 for Catey, a slave woman and children, Mary, Richard, and Sally. Receipt attests that all are healthy, but the child Mary is "marked with burns." The latter receipt was given by J.B. Hardee to J.A. Thompson for Cloey, age about 10, and $58.75, in exchange for a man named Frank, age of about 40. Both receipts were designed to act as a bill of sale.

Transcription:
1. The earliest receipt is on a partially printed form with handwritten information inserted. (Preprinted form is shown in quotation marks.) "Wilmington, N.C.", 4 May 1853.Received of Speir [Spier] Walters, Esq, One thousand "dollars, being in full for the purchase of" a "Negro Slave named" Catey with her three children, Viz. Mary, Richard, and Sally "the right and title of said Slave ('s) "warrant and defend against the claims of all persons whatsoever; and" do "likewise warrant" them "sound and healthy;" except the child Mary is marked with burns [?] "as witness" my "hand and seal" Ansley Davis "Seal" /"signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of M. Conly.

2. Received of J. A. Thompson a Negro Girl namey Cloey aged about 10 years & fifty eight Dollars & 75/100 in good [s] notes which was in? exchange for a Negro man named Frank aged about forty years. The right and Title of which I do herby warrant and forever defend. T. B. Hardee. March 5 1862. Attest Isaac G. Long

Two slave receipts/bills of sale, with one for Catey, and her three children, Mary, Richard, and Sally; and the other for Cloey, a girl. The documents are dated 4 May 1853 and 5 March 1862, respectively. The former was a manuscript receipt given at Wilmington, N.C. by Ansley Davis to Speir [Spier] Walters, in the amount of $1000 for Catey, a slave woman and children, Mary, Richard, and Sally. Receipt attests that all are healthy but the child Mary is "marked with burns." Receipt witnessed by M. Conly. The latter receipt was given by J.B. Hardee to J.A. Thompson for Cloey, age about 10, and $58.75, in exchange for a man named Frank, age of about 40. Both receipts were designed to act as a bill of sale.

Chronological order

There are significant challenges in learning the histories of the enslaved woman, Catey, the man, Frank, and the children, following these exchanges, in 1853 and 1862, respectively, and thereafter, even after emancipation. However, one significant clue for regarding Catey and her family is that the Spier Walters family did remain for at least several decades in Robeson County--a fact that eliminates the possibility that the family moved out of state, removing with them these enslaved persons. A study of the census and other records, pinpointing Robeson County, and nearby Bladen County, does reveal several possible name similarities and matches. For example, the North Carolina Marriage Index, 1741-2004, has a marriage record of Cate Walters, a Negro, born ca. 1852, who married William Gaddy 29 November 1872 in Sterlings, Robeson County. The Sterlings township was near the residence of the Spier Walters's family and descendants. In nearby Bladen County, Richard Walters, born January 1849, North Carolina, is shown on the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, with his wife, Nora Lewis (married 1886), and six minor children. There are various other areas of inquiry that a committed family researcher would want to pursue. The people named in the second receipt are harder to trace after the end of the Civil War because of the uncertainty of the locale. In general, however, more resources, are becoming available online and in repositories, making it increasingly possible to bring together a variety of means to trace the lineage of people of African-American ancestry to the 19th century, and possibly before.

Catey, slave of Speir Walters

Cloey, slave of J.A. Thmpson

Cloey, slave of T.B. Hardee

Davis, Ansley

Frank, slave of J.A. Thompson

Frank, slave of T.B. Hardee

Hardee, T.B.

Long, Isaac G.

Mary, slave of Speir Walters

Richard, slave of Speir Walters

Sally, slave of Speir Walters

Thompson, J.A.

Walters, Speir

Walters, Spier

Davis, Ansley

Walters, Speir

J.B. Hardee

Thompson, J. A.

Catey, slave of Speir Walters Walters

Mary, slave of Speir Walters Walters

Richard, slave of Speir Walters Walters

Sally, slave of Speir Walters Walters

Frank, slave of J.A. Thompson Thompson

Cloey, slave of J.B. Hardee Hardee

Walters, Speer

Child slaves

Slave bills of sale--North Carolina

Slave bills of sale--North Carolina--New Hanover County

Slave bills of sale--North Carolina--Wilmington

Slave holders--North Carolina

Slavery--North Carolina

Slaves

Slave bills of sale

Brunswick County (N.C.)

Horry County (S.C.)

Robeson County (N.C.)

Wilmington, N.C.

Dial Gray, Whiteville, N.C., 2007; donation accessioned in 2014.

Processed by Fran Tracy-Walls

Finding Aid by Fran Tracy-Walls, 2017, and updated, August 2019, for publication in Discover Online Catalog (DOC).