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Paul Cameron Letter, December 7, 1844
From his newly acquired plantation in Alabama, Paul writes home to his father in North Carolina. The party of slaves relocated from North Carolina to Alabama arrived the prior day on December 6th with their escort Mr. Laws. Paul relays difficulty…
Tags: board of commissioners, cabins, dividend, hired hand, hogs, legislature, master, mules, negroes, newspaper, our people, overseer, pay, payment, pork, post office, pricing, railroad, removal, rent, salt, slave health, weather
Kenneth Rayner Letter, November 5, 1847
Rayner describes a 17-day journey with his family from Raleigh to Baltimore to Wheeling to Cincinnati to Louisville to Nashville, avoiding Pittsburgh for danger of carrying slaves through region, meets up with Maury County friends George and Lucius…
Kenneth Rayner Letter, November 14, 1845
Rayner relays details of an 11-day journey from Raleigh to Maury County, Tennessee, involving railroads, stagecoaches, and horseback travel. Excellent insight into available roads, stagecoach routes, and terminus points at the time. On the first part…
Kenneth Rayner Letter, January 18, 1845
Rayner begins to set up his new plantation, slaves and mules relocated to site after 36-hour steamboat journey from Memphis, slave houses and fencing repaired, desires to purchase neighboring land from Arkansas Sentator Ashley, asks banker Duncan…
Kenneth Rayner Letter, February 8, 1846
Rayner makes his way home to North Carolina by way of Belmont Plantation in Fayette County, Tennessee, just east of Memphis. He writes to banker Duncan Cameron in Raleigh to vouch for $400 with a bank in New York to cover his ongoing expenses from…
Tags: payment
Kenneth Rayner Letter, December 21, 1845
Rayner writes to family friend and banker Duncan Cameron in Raleigh, describing the purchase of a new plantation in Arkansas with specifics on the land (acreage, above "high overflow" or flood stage, portion cleared, caving bank, in a favorable…
Kenneth Rayner Letter, December 18, 1847
Rayner continues south on his journey by horseback, then stage, then steamboat, checking on his lands with hopes of selling some, describes good overseer and cotton crop on plantation in Arkansas, and solicits banker Duncan Cameron for…
John Moore Letter, July 26, 1847
Dr. Moore writes Paul Cameron regarding the health of two slaves Caroline and Fanny who are thought to have syphilis and dropsy respectively. Caroline and her mother deny she has had sexual relations. Dr. Moore shares the condition of cotton and corn…
Tags: corn, cotton, dropsy, family/friends health, sex, slave health, syphilis, weather, weeds, worms
John Hamll Letter, December 29, 1847
John Hamll writes to Duncan Cameron that his bank note cannot be renewed, and due to a depression in the slave market, he has been unable to sell his slaves to pay off the note.
Tags: bank, family/friends health, market, negroes, note
James Ruffin Letter, August 27, 1845
In a reply to Paul Cameron, James Ruffin indicates that one month prior all of Paul's slaves (presumably in Alabama) were healthy and the crop was good. James is surprised to hear from Paul that slaves are sick, and recommends he not hire any doctors…
