Description:

Slavery
Virginia, 1764-1794
Planter Isaac Hite's Personal Accounts & Administration of Son-in-Law's Estate
Archive

Virginia tobacco and cotton planter Isaac Hite kept these accounts for household expenses from 1764 to 1777 and for his administration of his son-in-law James Buchanan's estate from 1778 to 1794. The household expenses include everything from foodstuffs, fabric, and ribbon, to tools and other implements associated with growing and harvesting cotton and tobacco. Some entries involve the sale or rental of enslaved laborers. Several entries involve the purchase of rum, especially for workers. Other entries indicate the international purchase of goods from London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. A detailed account of the finances of a Virginia plantation on the eve of the American Revolutionary War.

[SLAVERY.] Archive of household and state accounts, 1764-1794, Frederick and Stafford counties, Virginia. 64 pp.

Contents and Excerpts
- Isaac Hite, Account, 1764-1777. 56 pp., 7.5" x 12". General toning; loss at top center of last 44 pp., minimally affecting top three lines on each page.
November 25, 1765: "To 1 Negro boy of Crump 45..10.."
August 20, 1767: "To 1 Gal rum for the people, in ending fall hill road ..5.."
August 24, 1768: "To goods to 2 Negroes for drying and boxing hemp ..4.."
June 7, 1769: "To Goods from Glasgow as ? Invoice 165..0..7"
September 2, 1769: "To Goods from Liverpool ? Invoice £1011..10..0"
September 2, 1769: "To James Wignal ½ the Cost of 7 Servants 27..-.."
September 2, 1769: "To Servants to make up my half of debts received 61..18..5"
"Memo- There is £87..10..0 outstanding debts due for servants which when collected is to be divided equally between Mr Hite & myself."
September 18, 1770: "To ½ the Cost of 11 Servants 49..10.."
November 27, 1771: "To ½ Cost Servants of Wignal 27..--.."
November 27, 1771: "To my half of servants debts already received by Mr Hite 103..5..2½"
July 10, 1772: "To W. Allison Bll salt petre 2/6"
November 27, 1771: "By Colony of Virginia for Boltons Order 5..--.."
September 2, 1773: "To my part of Rob. Halfpennys Servant debt 6..18..9"
June 19, 1774: "To 2½ Bar Gun Powder 250 lb 35/ 10..2..6"
July 3, 1776: "By Thomas Dunmoor and Compy 600..--.."
May 8, 1777: "To a Negro boy named Timothy 100..--.."

- Isaac Hite, Account of Administration of James Buchanan's Estate, January 27, 1794, Stafford County, Virginia. 8 pp., 7.75" x 12.75". General toning; scattered stains, including some water stains.
Debits
May 2, 1778: "To Cash paid for laying a negro woman 6/ ..6..0"
July 1778: "To Cash paid for laying a negro woman ..12..0"
Credits
January 1779: "By Amount of the Sale of the remainder of his estate 1526..12..0"
"In obedience to the order of the Worshipful Court of Stafford County we have examined stated and settled the administration account of the late James Buchanan decd with the Administrator and have examined his receipts vouche[r]s, and documents and find receipts for all payments charged against the estate except his private account and some small charges in paper currency, for advertisements, and small articles furnished for the sale which your Commissioners conceived essentially necessary for the same and have Therefore allowed them.. .. they have allowed The Admr on his account two hundred pounds which we concur as a very small compensation for the trouble which he must have been at, in attending to the adjustments and collections of money mostly due by book account of a Merchant, which the Court approve of, will leave a balance of two thousand three hundred and ninety six pounds & three pence due the administration exclusive of the flour above referred to."

Isaac Hite Sr. (1721-1795) was born in Pennsylvania and moved to the Shenandoah Valley with his family. In 1745, he married Eleanor Eltinge (1724-1792), and they had eight children between 1746 and 1760. He served as a justice of the peace for Frederick County, Virginia, and he furnished supplies to the patriot forces during the Revolutionary War. In 1783, he gave his son and namesake a gift of Belle Grove Plantation as a wedding present on his marriage to future President James Madison's sister. There, Isaac Hite Jr. built the Belle Grove plantation home in the 1790s that still stands.

James Buchanan (1742-ca. 1778) was born in the Massachusetts Bay colony. In 1765, he married Anna Hite (1746-1816), but they did not have any children. They lived in Falmouth, Virginia, where he seems to have been a tobacco merchant. He does not appear to have been related to the fifteenth president of the United States of the same name.

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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