SOLD! for $922.00.
(Note: Prices realized include a buyer's premium.)
If you have items like this you wish to consign, click here for more information:
Selling with Case- Low Estimate: $400.00
- High Estimate: $600.00
- Realized: $922.00
- Share this:
Madison County, Tennessee slavery lawsuit archive. Lot consists of 17 documents from 1848-1852 relating to the case of a young female slave named Phebe, "about 14 years old, likely and smart", who was allegedly traded by Samuel L. Anderson, William Sheppard, and James Fussell to William Turner in exchange for another female slave named Dianna. Phebe was later discovered to be "laboring under a virulent gonhorrea" and Turner, alleging Phebe's sellers knew of her disease, filed suit demanding compensation. Included are handwritten copies of depositions in the case including testimony of Dr. William Warren that Phebe had "not yet arrived at the age of womanhood" and that she reported "her purchasers had given her the disease", as well as testimonies from several witnesses regarding the transaction and Phebe's value and health (with some witnesses disputing that she had any signs of physical ailment), and the difference in value between a "sound female slave" and an "unsound female slave". The documents begin with the bill of complaint and follow the case as it progressed through the courts until its resolution in 1852, when the defendants were ordered to pay Turner $300 plus court costs (no compensation was allotted to Phebe). Most of the papers have been photocopied and transcribed in typewritten copies included in this lot. Also included with this lot is a copy of the book "Historical Madison: the Story of Jackson and Madison County, Tennessee from the Moundbuilders to World War I" by Emma Inman Williams, published 1946. This book contains a photocopied document reference to "Phebe, aged about thirteen years" purchased by Samuel Anderson in a group of 35 slaves in Nov. of 1847 (p. 202), and to John Fussell, who "had a fight in the court yard with one certain John Montgomery" in 1824 and was fined $10 for contempt of court. There is also a reference to William Jackson (p. 216) entering an agreement with the state of Tennessee to import freed slave laborers from South Carolina to Tennessee in 1867. Condition: Papers in overall good condition with some fading, toning, and small edge tears; the July 6 1850 document has some tears at fold lines. Book dustjacket exhibits wear and several tears.