Slave Traders Sell Slave to One of the Early Settlers of Spanish Natchez

With this bill of sale, slave traders Warren Offutt and Rice C. Ballard sold a twenty-one-year-old slave named Aaron to John Henderson of Natchez, Mississippi.

On the same day, Henderson advertised an auction of ten slaves in two families from the estate of Norman McInnis of Concordia, Louisiana, to be sold at auction on January 2, 1829. Three years later, he wrote a letter to the editors of the National Intelligencer in Washington, D.C., for publication that suggested a method for the gradual abolition of slavery, although it may not have been published, as he wrote six weeks later asking their reasons for "suppressing it."

[SLAVERY.] Warren Offutt and Rice C. Ballard, Manuscript Document Signed, Bill of Sale, December 27, 1828, Natchez, Mississippi. 1 p., 7.75" x 12.75". Some toning; very good.

Complete Transcript
Know all men by these presents that we Warren Offutt & Rice Ballard for and in consideration of the sum of five hundred Dollars to us in hand paid by John Henderson of the City of Natches the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged have bargained sold and delivered and by these presents do bargain sell and deliver to the said John Henderson One Negro Man named Aaron about twenty one years of age and we do hereby warrant the said Negro Man as a slave for life to the said John Henderson his heirs and assigns against the legal claim of all and every person or persons whomsoever and do also warran[t] the said Negro Man to be at this time bound in mind and body.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals at Natches this twenty seventh day of December 1828
WitnessWarren Offutt (seal)
R. C. Ballard (seal)

Warren Offutt (1780-1856) was born in Maryland and married Clarissa Offutt in 1810. He moved to Kentucky by 1820 and worked as a slave trader in the Mississippi Valley. In 1833, he paid $65 in taxes in Natchez, Mississippi, as a 1 percent tax on gross sales for six months, indicating that he had sold $6,500 worth of slaves in that half year. By 1850, he was a farmer in Lafayette County, Missouri.

Rice C. Ballard (1800-1860) was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and became a slave trader based in Richmond, Virginia. He worked in partnership with the large slave trading firm of Isaac Franklin and John Armfield in the late 1820s and early 1830s. By the early 1840s, Ballard became a planter in the Mississippi Valley, but he made his home in Louisville, Kentucky. He married Louise Berthe (1826-1896) around 1840, and they had three children. By the late 1850s, Ballard owned more than five hundred slaves.

John Henderson (1755-1841) was born in Scotland and emigrated to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1770. He moved to Louisiana in 1775, and then settled in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1787. There, he became a prosperous merchant; in January 1821, his firm became John Henderson and Sons, when his sons Alexander and Thomas joined him in partnership. At various times during his five decades in Natchez, Henderson served as Recorder of Adams County, County Treasurer, and Receiver for the Government Land Office in the Mississippi Territory, west of the Pearl River. He was also a founder and served as chairman of the trustees of the Presbyterian Church there. In 1788, he married Selah Mitchell (d. 1838), and they had fourteen children. In 1835, he built Pleasant Hill, a house in Natchez that still exists. In 1840, he owned six slaves.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.