Description:

Slavery

Billling Slave Labor in Alabama After the War

 

[CIVIL WAR, SLAVERY.] C. C. Harris, Partially Printed Document Signed, February 18, 1867. Summons of William Alexander and Thomas Alexander in case of McKelvy v. Alexander and Alexander, Lawrence County Circuit Court, Moulton, Alabama. Two-inch tear with attempted tape repair, affecting three lines on recto and two lines on verso; no loss of text; expected folds and chipped edges.

 

In February 1867, widow Martha McKelvy sued William Alexander and Thomas Alexander for $250 for their hire of her slave Abram from August 1864 to July 1865. The jury found in her favor and awarded $182.25 plus interest from July 1865, for a total of $265.47.

 

In 1860, Lawrence County, Alabama, had 7,173 whites, 6,788 enslaved African Americans, and 14 free African Americans. The largest slaveowner in the county held 207 slaves, and twenty-five slaveowners in the county held more than fifty. William Alexander’s ownership of 38 slaves placed him in a second tier of slaveowners, but well above the average slaveowner who held four to six slaves. William and Martha McKelvy also owned more than the average but many fewer than their neighbor William Alexander.

 

Martha Wren McKelvy (1803-1885) was born in Kentucky. She married William McKelvy (1796-1862), and they had at least five children. In 1860, William McKelvy was a tavern keeper in Lawrence County, Alabama, and he owned 12 slaves (3 adults, 3 teens, and 6 children, ranging in age from 47 years to 4 months). “Abram” is likely the 47-year-old male on the 1860 slave schedule.

 

William Alexander (1803-1873) was born in North Carolina and was a farmer in Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1860. He owned 38 slaves, contributing most of the value to his $65,500 in personal property, and he owned $19,000 in real estate.

 

Thomas Alexander (1835-1890) was born in Alabama, and in 1854, he married Sarah Caroline Warren (1829-1872). In 1860, he worked as an overseer, likely for his father, in Lawrence County, Alabama.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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