Description
A bill of sale detailing the sale of Henry, a “negro boy about the age of nineteen and one of the slaves included in said order, for the sum of five hundred and forty dollars, being the last and highest bidder for that sum.” At this public sale, the slaves of John W. Lenas, were sold in Memphis. The final sale was paid in bank note, as described in the letter. On verso of folded letter is a note about the “Bill Sale of Boy Henry.”
Comments: A slave bill of sale was a contract between a slave owner and buyer. They served as legally enforceable documents, detailing the price of the slave, the given name and a brief description of their condition at the time of sale. The recipient of these slaves, Buckley Kimbrough of Shelby County Tennessee, was a prominent attorney and landholder in Memphis, Tennessee. He operated one of the largest cotton plantations in western Tennessee, He was politically connected with Governor and future President, James K. Polk of Nashville.
