Archive of fifty-eight (58) items pertaining to Peter Gordon, Merchant of Alexandria and Fredericksburg, Virginia, including a slave related letter, legal papers, and documents in relation to the ship Fabius under the command of Captain James Hughes and Thomas Farrell, circa 1804-1811. 1st-11th items: Eleven (11) invoices, letters, receipts and other documents pertaining to Gordon's business endeavors, including items from Baldwin M. Lee, a Justice of the Peace of Westmoreland County and family member of Gordon's wife, Susan Hancock [Lee] Gordon Thornton (1795-1867), dated circa July 26, 1803-March 8, 1811. One (1) letter from Baldwin, dated February 10, 1810, refers to the sale of Gordon's slaves, including a reference to Mr. Murray "...of this neighborhood, who is very anxious to purchase Maria & her child at $450..." Note: Susan married Gordon circa May 24, 1806 or 1808 in Westmoreland County. Her second marriage was to John Stuart Thornton of Montpelier, Rappahannock County, VA, b. 1780.12th-13th items: Two (2) legal documents, including one (1) indenture between Gordon and his wife and John Stewart, junior of the Corportation of Fredericksburg and Commonwealth of VA, for a tract of land containing seven hundred and fifty-six acres in Culpepper County, for the sum of one thousand four hundred and ten pounds and one shilling, dated and witnessed October 1, 1808, and one (1) answer of a bill of complaint issued against Gordon and another in the Court of the United States for the fifth circuit and Virginia District by David Wilson, with attached copies of evidence, given under oath before Baldwin M. Lee, a Justice of the Peace of Westmoreland County, dated December 29, 1810.14th-37th items: Twenty-four (24) bills of lading issued to Peter Gordon and others, primarily Robert Patton and William Ramsey Wilson, confirming the shipment of goods such as hogsheads of Virginia leaf tobacco, coffee, and wine, aboard the Fabius, including twelve (12) from Alexandria to Bordeaux, dated June 23, 1804, one (1) includes an invoice, dated May 25, 1804, ten (10) from Bordeaux to New York, dated October 8, 1804, and two (2) from Bordeaux, with French text, dated September 21, 1805. 38th-58th items: Twenty-one (21) invoices, manifests, letters, and other documents pertaining to the shipment of goods by Gordon and others aboard the Fabius, dated circa May 31, 1804-May 3, 1808. Note: An Invoice for Wines and Food shipped on board the Fabius was recorded in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 44: 1 July to 10 November 1804, pp. 383-84. The ship, carrying cases of wine and preserved fruit, was bound to New York and consigned to the Collector of the Custom there on account of the President of the United States. Provenance: Private Chattanooga, TN collection.

All items in overall good, legible condition with toning, foxing spots, dampstaining, insect damage, tears, to be expected from age and manner of use.