I ran across an interesting document today – being offered for auction online. The Estate document includes a list of 31 named slaves being rented out by the estate of Thomas W. Riviere of Upson County, Georgia. It is dated December 14, 1859.
The following description is posted at the auction website:
December 13-14, 1859, Manuscript Document, Being an Accounting of the Sale of a Large Estate in Upson County, Georgia, Including the Hiring Out of 31 Named Slaves, Extremely Fine.
This marvelous, original, handwritten, estate sale listing, fills 12 pages (352 entries), on 12″ x 8″ blue, lined paper, recording the estate of Thomas W. Riviere, deceased. The last 2 pages of this document contain a listing of rented lands and 31 named slaves, who were rented out along with their families. This document is sharp and clean, with almost no toning except on the outside (back) page, which is blank aside from some court docketing. A fantastic document, possibly of great value in genealogical research. (6 sheets)
The above illustration is the first page listing slaves, of two being offered for sale. I transcribed the data dealing with the slaves from both pages as best I could. I have replaced ditto marks with the word or name found above those marks. I am assuming that the name found after that of the slave is the party to whom the slave is being rented, with the amount of the rent being the last item on the line.
Following is the list:
- Man – Elias & his family – Mrs. C. Reviere – $25.00
- Man – Albert – Mrs. C. Reviere – $125.00
- Woman – Lydia & 7 Children – Mrs. C. Reviere – $25.00
- Woman – Louisa & 3 Children – Mrs. C. Reviere – $5.00
- Woman – Amanda & 3 Children – Mrs. C. Reviere – $5.00
- Woman – Mourning & 5 Children – Mrs. C. Reviere – 50.00
- Girl – Ellen – Mrs. C. Reviere – $75.00
- Girl – Clarissa – Mrs. C. Reviere – $50.00
- Harriet & Thomas – Mrs. C. Reviere – $100.00
- Caroline & Children – Mrs. C. Reviere – $25.00
- Man – Ben – D.R. Beall – $119.50
- Man – Nelson – IF Riviere – $130.00
- Man – Burrill – Jno W Beall – 85.00
- Man – John – Wm Carnaway (sp) $131.00
- Man- Buck & wife Amanda – JWF Hightower – $205.00
- Man- Will & Harriet – James F Lewis – $230.00
- Man – Turner – George W. Ray – 141.00
- Man – Isaac – Abner Abercrombie (sp?) 143.00
- Man – Aaron – BW Jackson – 106.00
- Man – Neely – Thos R. Reviere – 138.00
- Man – Howard – Nissian (sp?) Barrett – $139.00
- Man- Irwin – John N Howell – 120.00
- Boy – Greene – Geo W Lanford – $52.00
- Girl – Martha – JW Bellah (sp?) 48.00
- Girl – Miranda – John Thompson – $80.00
- Girl – Jane – Wm P. King – $110.50
- Girl – Susan – IW Suggs – 101.00
- Girl – Adeline – Jos F Lewis – $80.00
Francis & Thomas Reviere signed the document as the administrators of the estate.
The auction is at liveauctioneers.com, and will be held at 9 a.m. on February 15, 2009. You may register at the site, and bid at any time. The documents are expected to sell for $300 to $400 dollars, but bidding starts at only $1. No bids have been placed as of the moment I’m writing this.
During or about 1994 there was a systematic and massive theft of local courthouse records from about 30 Georgia counties. The thieves mainly sought antebellum and Civil War-era documents, from the jurisdictions of Inferior Court, Superior Court, and Court of Ordinary (probate court). Based on boxes of documents eventually recovered from the thief’s home and his storage unit, Upson County and Pulaski County were the hardest hit. Thousands of documents may have been sold before law enforcement took action. It is not coincidental that ever since 1994 Upson County probate documents and court cases, especially anything having to do with slavery, peiodically appear on the auction market, sometimes individually, sometimes in batches of several documents at a time. It is also beyond a reasonable doubt that 99% or more of these documents are public records that belong in the county archives, not in the hands of auctioneers and collectors. Our historical heritage is being scattered and effectively destroyed before our eyes.