Description:

Slavery
Wilmington, NC; Columbus, MS, ca. 1843-1848
Selling Slaves, 8 Letters, 18pp, "act so that the negroes cant get out of the way" - Archive of 1840s Letters CSA Sen. Robert Jamison Jr.
Archive
Robert Jemison Jr., Archive of Letters to Jemison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1843-1848. 8 letters, 18 pp., 8" x 10". The first seven letters are from Thomas C. Miller in Wilmington, North Carolina; the last is from Thomas W. Brown in Columbus, Mississippi. Toning throughout; minor edge tears; some tears on original opening; some staining; generally very good.

This series of letters illustrates how enslaved African Americans could get caught in the webs of credit established by southern planters and attorneys. In this case, attorney Thomas C. Miller in Wilmington, North Carolina, was the executor of the estate of former North Carolina governor John Owen (1787-1841). In October 1840, Bentley D. Arnold (ca. 1804-1868) and John B. Jones of Mississippi agreed to pay John Owen $43,520 in eight promissory notes due between 1840 and 1847 for 880 acres of land in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, and legislator Robert Jemison Jr. of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, served as security for Arnold and Jones. After paying the first two notes, Arnold apparently could not pay the further sums and kept seeking additional time.

As Miller's letter of October 30, 1844, makes clear, the future of enslaved persons who were the property of planters like Bently D. Arnold often got caught up in the settlement of their owners' debts. The issues detailed in these letters continued into the 1850s. In 1854, a new administrator of John Owen's estate sued Arnold and Jemison in Lowndes County, Mississippi, for payment of the notes. By that time, Arnold had moved further west to Texas.

Reflecting how the lives of slaves were dramatically affected by planter debts, Jemison wrote to Arnold in October 1856, "I have been forced to sell recently several negroes, which nothing but the necessities of the case would have induced me to do."

Excerpts
[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., April 1, 1843:]
"I find a letter to E. Whittlesey Esqr Audr of P. O. Dept at Washington City attached to which is a draft drawn by you on E. Whittlesey Audr P. O. Dept. for the sum of Sixteen hundred dollars to be paid in the month of May next payable to T. C. Miller Esqr. which I will immediately send on & desire an acknowledgement & as soon as paid will place it to your credit as you have directed."

[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., April 13, 1843:]
"As regards Mr Arnold I am as uneasy as I can well be for the compliance on his part of the demands against him & I think I have good cause but I feel this uneasiness not because I doubt the safety of the debt but because I am fearful it may end in your loss."

[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., May 11, 1843:]
"On the 5th of May I received from the Post Office Department the amount of the proceeds of the draft drawn by you for sixteen hundred dollars in my favour—I would have written you before but I really thought I had done so till I reflected for my mind has been greatly disturbed owing to a most destructive fire that has occurred in our Town & destroyed the most valuable part of it & among the buildings my residence included."
In Wilmington, North Carolina, the Great Fire of 1843 along the waterfront destroyed a significant portion of downtown, including railroad offices, warehouses, shops, and homes, and damaged five locomotives.

[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., March 25, 1844:]
"I hope you will do better with Arnold that you anticipate if not I will proceed against him as you suggest & at any time you will suggest – do all you can with him in the premises however before we resort to the last measure."

[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., October 30, 1844:]
"Enclosed you will find the order to Mr Evans. I see in the Deed that the Trustee can take the negroes into his possession whenever they are required to be sold by the parties of the third part – for the Deed says the party of the first part may retain possession until the same shall be required by the party of third part to be sold – well, the party of the third part now requires them to be sold – thereupon the right of the party of the first part ceases to retain that possession. But should there be any difficulty as to that, do see Mr Evans & learn if there is no statute of that state enabling him to issue a writ of Replevin - & if not then can he not file a petition to a Judge & set forth his suspicions or his belief on this subject, & obtain a writ of Ne Exeat either the writ of Replevin or the writ of Ne Exeat would be directed to the sheriff of the County where the negroes are, directing him to take possession of them or to obtain a bond for their forth coming on day of sale – all this had better be fixed complete & secure before the matter is breathed. I feel sure of your entire ability to act so that the negroes cant get out of the way & it is best to take the surest & safest means & that at one, except sufficient & ample security is given to the Trustee & yourself in the way of bills payable in a short time."

[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., April 10, 1846:]
"I thought it best to defer it till after I received from you the amount you are to pay this spring – which I will see her about then & write you. I myself wish to do all I can to accommodate you that I can consistent with my duty & the law. In each of my last letters I mentioned to you how much I was pressed & was in bright hope you would have answered me ere this & sent me funds available at this time as you suggested in one of your letters.... I am in the most anxious state of mind relative to the claims against me as Executor for I promised the Bank positively to make a payment at this time relying confidently upon what I expected to receive from you & now I must beg you again if you can do relieve me."

[Thomas C. Miller to Robert Jemison Jr., September 30, 1846:]
"I wrote you fully some five weeks ago, since which I have had no reply. I stated to you that I was placed in such a condition that a delay of short period was a great matter to me. I am extremely anxious to hear from you & to receive the amt of what I stated might for the present relieve me – will you be good enough to let me know what you can do as I am really in a situation that I cannot delay long."

[Thomas W. Brown to Robert Jemison Jr., September 21, 1848:]
"It seems Mr Jemison that you are disposed to delay the pmt of your indebtedness in every way You promised last spring a year ago to pay your note with d[ra]fts upon the PO department pbl quarterly from July /47 & this is the only one you have let us have.... I want to know what you intend doing by return mail for I am determined to close this business."

Robert Jemison Jr. (1802-1871) was born in Georgia into a slaveholding planter family and attended the University of Georgia. In 1826, he moved with his family to Alabama, and then to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1836. He served in the Alabama state legislature, in the Senate or the House of Representatives, from 1840 to 1863. By 1851, he owned six plantations in western Alabama and 120 slaves. He was also involved in a variety of business ventures, including a stagecoach line, toll roads, toll bridges, grist mills, sawmills, turnpikes, stables, and a hotel. In 1861, he was a delegate to Alabama's secession convention and voted against secession. In 1863, he was elected unanimously as the president of the Alabama Senate and soon after elected to the Senate of the Confederate States of America to replace William Lowndes Yancey, who had died. During the Civil War, Jemison issued a proclamation to "his black people" offering to let those go who wanted to go with the Yankees and to employ those who remained in a share-cropping arrangement under an overseer. After the Civil War took most of his wealth, he lost his family mansion in Tuscaloosa due to debt.

Thomas Calizance Miller (1814-1865) was born in North Carolina to a French immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1797 and his North Carolina wife. In 1840, Thomas C. Miller married Anne Watters Davis in Pittsboro, North Carolina, and they had seven children. He maintained a residence in Wilmington, where he practiced law. In 1847, he acquired the Belleville plantation on Cape Fear in North Carolina. In 1854, Miller sold Belleville to his younger brother and purchased the 4,975-acre Orton plantation and 62 slaves for $100,000 from his wife's uncle. He increased the productivity and profitability of the rice plantation, and by 1860, he owned real property worth $85,000 and personal property valued at $150,000, mostly in enslaved persons. He prospered throughout the Civil War but died in June 1865. Although his Orton plantation emerged from the war virtually unscathed, the loss of his slave property left Miller's estate insolvent at his death.

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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