Letter from Alphonsa Blake to their lawyer Joseph Wickes
Document
CH_CA_2022_IC_005_026
Institutional Collections
Letter asking Wickes to find a good position for their enslaved man Charles in Baltimore. Charles is twenty-one or twenty-two years old, Blake wasn't going to sell Charles before he turned thirty five, and does not want Charles to know the terms he is to be sold for. He must either be sold in Baltimore if he prefers it there or come back to the Eastern Shore where Mr. Vannort might renew his warrant against Charles. Even though Charles might be sold he will still have a manumission deed executed, and prefers he be sold to a "walker" to make sure he gets his freedom. Blake talks up his attributes as a waiter, gardener, and farm hand, and is willing to take less money if it is for a good home. The warrant issue with Mr. Vannort is over the alleged theft of apples the previous year. The letter also mentions that if Charles is manumitted he cannot be sold out of state.
MS0066-01-73-052 October 8 1841
legal correspondence
Slavery--Economic aspects--United States, Slave labor, Slaves--Emancipation
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