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Letters Pertaining to Slavery and Slave Hiring in Virginia, 1843-1859, Accession # 10969, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
These items were purchased from Halvor Americana, Clarendon Hills, Illinois, on July 30, 1990.
This collection consists of two letters, both containing material pertaining to slavery. The first letter, December 16, 1843, from W.P. Goodwin, Rose Hill, Virginia, to James M. Beazley, asks for additional time to pay his account with Beazley for boarding his son Byrd [Goodwin] and lists the various items on his account. He credits his tardiness in payment to sickness in the family which forced him to depend too heavily on the management of his tobacco crop by his slaves who he claimed did not manage the crop properly resulting a loss of income and a short growing season for his wheat crop.
In another letter, May 27, 1859, John B. Winfree, Woodlawn, Virginia, to his brother, Christopher V. Winfree, Lynchburg, discusses his plans for his "waitman and maid" apparently just inherited. He directs his brother to hire out the slave Peter, after providing him with summer clothes, and to send Cornelia home to help Annie as "I don't wish her to work in a factory." He also mentions other family news and looks forward to a visit from his brother and others.