Bill of sale with two transactions for an enslaved man named Joe or Joseph

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A bill of sale for an enslaved man identified as “Joseph or Joe." The document includes both printed and handwritten text. The document records two separate transactions for the man, one on the front and one on the back. The front of the document concerns a transaction that occurred On July 16, 1844. Henry P. Goldsmith of Chambers County, Alabama, purchased Joe for $465 from Joseph L. Lock and Charles Davis in Savannah, Georgia. Joe is described as 19 and of “bright mulatto colour.” The back of the document contains the second transaction, dated August 26, 1844. In this sale, Joe is transferred from Goldsmith to James Akins of Chambers County, Alabama for “value received.” Additional text is at the bottom of the page. G. S. Harding acted as witness to both sales.

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