Slavery
North Carolina, Texas, Alabama, ca. 1852-1861
Individuals & Railroads Hire Slaves; Slaveowner Faces Legal Trouble for Allowing Slave to Hire Himself
ALS; ADS

This trio of documents illustrates the complexity of the hiring of slaves. The first document is a 1852 letter by a carpenter and contractor in North Carolina who wanted to hire two skilled slaves ("mechanics") from a bank cashier, planter, and slaveowner. The second document is the record of a 1856 trial in a Texas court of a master for allowing his slave, Dick, to hire out his own time. The third document is a certification of the hiring of two slaves to work on a railroad in Alabama in 1861.

In May 1846, the Texas legislature passed a law that "any owner or master of a slave or slaves who shall hire such slave to any other slave or to any free negro or mulatto, or shall suffer such slave to go at large upon a hiring of his own time, for more than one day in the week, except in Christmas holydays, or to act or deal as a free person with the State, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars for every such offence."

In November 1856, the State of Texas indicted John M. Anderson for permitting his slave Dick to hire his time and to "act as a free person...against the peace and dignity of the State." Anderson filed a motion with the court to quash the indictment, and the court overruled the motion. Anderson then pleaded not guilty. A jury of twelve men found Anderson guilty and fined him 1 cent and the costs of the suit (approximately $18.95). Anderson then made a motion for a new trial because "the verdict and judgment is not supported by the law." When the court overruled the motion, Anderson appealed the decision to the Texas Supreme Court, and clerk A. B. Moore prepared this transcript of the case. In 1857, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction and dismissed the case based on the precedent set in Rawles v. The State (15 Tex. 581, 1855), in which the Texas Supreme Court found the 1846 law "so exceedingly awkward" in failing to identify whether the slave or the master should be punished that it was unenforceable. The Supreme Court observed, "It is very unfortunate that, on a subject of so much interest and importance, in regulating and keeping under proper discipline our slaves, there should be such imperfect legislation."

The Gainesville & Mississippi Railroad was incorporated in February 1852 to build from the river town of Gainesville, Alabama, to the nearest connection with the Mobile & Ohio Railroad in Mississippi. In February 1854, the charter was amended to change the name of the railroad to the Mississippi, Gainesville & Tuscaloosa Railroad. Chief Engineer and Superintendent Joseph C. Avery certified that the railroad hired two of James Mosley's slaves, one named Aleck, for 340 days in 1861, for which they would pay Mosley $262.10 minus the cost of two pairs of shoes furnished to the slaves by the railroad. In October 1870, the railroad was sold to the Mobile & Ohio, which abandoned the branch in 1879.

[SLAVERY.]
- G. W. Conrad, Autograph Letter Signed, to Dolphin A. Davis, December 15, 1852, Raleigh, [North Carolina]. 2 pp., 8" x 10". Expected folds; very good.
- A. B. Moore, Autograph Document Signed, Court Record in State of Texas v. John M. Anderson, September 14, 1857, Guadalupe County, Texas. 4 pp., 8" x 12.5". Toning; small loss at top of first page, not affecting text; small holes at top from prior attachment.
- J. C. Avery, Autograph Document Signed, Certificate to James Mosley for the work of his two slaves on the Mississippi, Gainesville, and Tuscaloosa Railroad Company, 1861, [Alabama]. 1 p., 8" x 6.25". Expected folds; light soiling on verso.

Excerpts
[Conrad letter:]
"I intended seeing you again about your boys before you left Raleigh, but you left sooner than I expected and I was deprived of it. we had no understanding farther than I offered you $150 dollars a year for each of them, provided I liked them on seeing them, which you said you would take. Now there are many things which may conflict with our understanding besides. It is not customary to hire Boys that are mechanics in the same way as common labourers, the Masters of Boys that are Mechanics almost invariably clothe their boys. the common Labourer is clothed by the man who hires him. Doctors Bills and taxes are to be paid by the owner of the slave unless by special agreement otherwise, so you will see that my understanding is that I am to pay you $150.00 each for the boys and I pay there expenses down here and back, (they could take there time and walk down as my other boys do) and you clothe them or I will attend to it for you and you pay taxes & Doctors Bills if this meets your understanding you may start them down on Monday after Newyears day with a little cash say $2.50 cents each which I will return to you again I thought when I saw you that I should be able to get up to Salisbury by Christmas, but now I dont think I shall I am not in the habit of giving Bonds with security for negroes but would prefer paying you quarterly by check or draft through the Bank of Cape Fear. I have been very specific in this that there may be no misunderstanding."

[Texas v. Johnson:]
"That John M. Anderson late of the County aforesaid [Guadalupe], labourer, with force and arms in the county aforesaid on the fifth day of November Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty six, did then and there permit his slave Dick to go at large upon a hiring of his own time for more than one day in the week, the time hired as aforesaid not being in the Christmas Holidays, contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided against the peace and dignity of the State.
"And the Jurors aforesaid on their oath aforesaid further present, That John M. Anderson late of the county aforesaid, labourer, with force and arms in the County aforesaid, on the fifth day of November Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty six, did then and there permit his slave Dick to act as a free person contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State."

[Avery statement:]
"M. G. & T. R. R. Company To James Mosley Dr.
"1861
"To hire of Two Negro men on track in 1861
"340¾ days work, or 13 11/104 months @$20 $262.11
"Cr. By two pr. of shoes furnished by R. R. Compy @ $1 75/100 3.50
"258.61
"I hereby Certify the above to be a true statement of the time Mr. Mosleys boys actually worked on the Road, exclusive of the time the boy Aleck put in with Mr. More grading
"J. C. Avery / Chf. Engr & Supt"
"Aleck worked 10 days under Jas Moore which amt is to be added to this a/c"

John W. Conrad (1820-1878) was born in North Carolina to a Philadelphia cabinetmaker, Joseph Conrad, and his wife, who had recently moved to the state and settled in Rowan County. His father built furniture and began to expand into carpentry work. John W. Conrad and his brothers became accomplished artisans as well. They did interior work on the new state capitol in Raleigh in the 1840s. The Conrads received the carpentry contract for the North Carolina Hospital for the Insane in 1850. He married Demaris Jane Weatherly (1837-1918) in Greensboro in 1856 and soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee, after her family had moved to nearby Somerville. He continued working as a contractor and builder there and owned substantial property. He and his wife fled Memphis in 1878 because of a yellow fever epidemic, but the fever caught him, and he died in Somerville on October 3, 1878.

Dolphin Alston Davis Jr. (1802-1881) was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Revolutionary War veteran Dolphin Austin Davis Sr. (1759-1818) and his wife. When his father died, he became a clerk of the Fayetteville branch of the Bank of the United States. In the mid-1820s, he purchased a farm near Fayetteville and farmed for twelve years. In 1837, he moved to Salisbury with his wife and two children and became the cashier of the Salisbury Branch of the Bank of Cape Fear. He also held positions in a local cotton factory, plank road company, and railroad. He served as a financial agent for Rowan County for many years. He was also an active Presbyterian elder and representative to church assemblies. He was married four times and had eight children.

Joseph C. Avery(1826-1862) was a civil engineer and train operator for the Mississippi, Gainesville & Tuscaloosa Railroad in the early 1860s. The railroad specialized in transporting cotton and other agricultural goods to nearby waterways. In March 1862, he was killed instantly when his locomotive exploded at Gainesville, Alabama, while he was rushing Confederate soldiers to a steamboat on the Tombigbee River that would transport them to Chattanooga.

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  • Dimensions: 8" x 10"; 8" x 12.5"; 8" x 6.25"
  • Medium: ALS; ADS

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