Unusual South Carolina Slave Sale Arranged by Former Slave, One of the Wealthiest Ex-Enslaved Slaveholders of The State!

A 1p contemporary clerical copy of a bill of sale recording the sale of a "negro man slave named Frank," an agreement made between two town residents named William Ellison and Thomas Waties. December 5, 1854, Stateburg, South Carolina. On pale blue laid paper. The document is signed by E.M. Anderson, a Stateburg citizen, at lower left, and is secretarially signed by the seller, William Ellison, at lower right. Docketed verso. Expected wear including paper folds as well as isolated corner wrinkles and weathering verso. Else near fine. 7.875" x 12.125."

The bill of sale reads in part:

"State of South Carolina

Know All men by these Presents that I William Ellison for and in consideration of the sum of nine Hundred Dollars to me in Hand paid by Thomas Waties (the receipt thereof I do hereby acknowledge) have bargained sold and delivered and be these Presents do bargain sell and deliver to the said Thomas Waties a certain negro man slave named Frank - To Have and to Hold the said negro slave Frank unto the said Thomas Waties his Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns…

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal dated at Stateburg on the Fifth day of December in the Year of Our Lord one Thousand eight Hundred and fifty four…"

Stateburg, South Carolina is located in Sumter County, in the center of the state, in a region dominated by the High Hills of Santee. Stateburg was also the adopted home of William "April" Ellison, Jr. (ca. 1790-1861), after 1816. Ellison, Jr. was destined to become one of the wealthiest free black slave owners of antebellum South Carolina.

"April" Ellison was the illegitimate son of a white slave owner named William Holmes Ellison (1775-1833) from Fairfield County, South Carolina and an enslaved black woman. Ellison, Jr. was born into slavery and grew up as a slave. He was apprenticed to a cotton gin maker, who provided him with a basic education (arithmetic, writing, and reading) and also taught him invaluable trade skills in machinery, blacksmithing, and carpentry. Ellison, Jr. had saved enough of his "hiring out" wages to purchase his freedom around the age of 26, which is also around the time that he legally changed his name from April (the month that he is believed to have been born) to William Ellison, Jr.

William Ellison, Jr. quickly took advantage of his new-found manumission. He opened a cotton gin manufactory and repair shop in Stateburg, and, to operate it, he acquired highly skilled artisan slaves like he himself had been. He was so successful over the next 40 years that in 1860, the year before his death, Ellison, Jr. is recorded as owning about 900 acres of land and 63 slaves, or the equivalent of $53,000 in 1860 money and nearly $2 million in 2022 currency. Ellison, Jr.'s wealth granted him certain social privileges, even in segregated antebellum South Carolina, like a family pew in the rear of the ground floor of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg.

Baptism records for black congregants, both enslaved and free, of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg from this period give us a clearer picture of some of William Ellison, Jr.'s other slaves: enslaved men and women named John, Sarah, Nancy Ann, and Jacob were baptized there in 1844, 1850, 1850, and 1853 respectively. No record of a Frank.

The buyer of "the negro man slave named Frank" was probably the descendant of a prominent Stateburg citizen named Thomas Waties (1760-1828). Chancellor or Judge Thomas Waties, as he was known, was a Revolutionary War veteran and had been a prisoner-of-war. He served for several decades as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina as well as a judge. Upon his death, he owned about 53 enslaved persons. Judge Thomas Waties's grandson and namesake Thomas Waties (1830-1872) should be considered as an excellent candidate for being Frank's buyer.

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.

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