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Collection: FERGUSON, ELIAS, PAPERS " ' P.CL—
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Gaston, North Carolina
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‘ ’ 1842-1873' • . ' > ■ '
Physical Description: c. 3?5 items; letters, bills, receipts, promissory-
notes, bills of sale, summons and depositions, and broadsides. - •
Acquisition: Gift: Mr. Robert F. Hester,^BHMHflBy Wendell, N. C.
Received August 30, 1963. Accessioned July 23, 1965.
Description: These are letters and records of Elias Ferguson, slave trader
of Gaston, North Carolina.
Letters (1853-1866) addressed to Ferguson relate his suit against the
Greenville Railroad Company; contain descriptions of Negroes purchased or
for sale, quote prices for men and women, boys and girls, and reports on
. the market. A relative writing from Louisiana after the War Between .the
States complains of the difficulties in hiring and feeding Negroes on worn-
out land and his refusal to allow them to remain unless they contract to
work. Ferguson's letters to traders in Lynchburg and Richmond are in¬
quiries about the market - prices and availability of slaves.
Miscellaneous items include: bills and receipts (1842-1873) for
•medical expenses, room and board, clothes and food; promissory notes
(1842-1869); accounts ( 1841-1861) for sales of corn, cotton, etc.; sum¬
mons and depositions (1852-1858); tax records (1844-1854); slave records
(1857-1858), pass, descriptions; notices of auction sales (1855); receipts
and bills of sale for slaves (1851-1859); overseer of the poor accounts
(1849); and broadside advertisements.
■ Scrapbook entitled "E. W. Ferguson, Slave Trader, Personal Papers, .
Business Papers, Pictures, Report (1835-1839), ". United States History
Project by Mary Jo. Hester, January 12, 1962, was included with the
papers. This is. available on microfilm (P.C. mf.68). The scrapbook was
taken apart, and the letters and papers were interfiled with the rest of.
the collection.-
