Rental of Slave Paul in Missouri While Heirs Contest Who Owns Him

With this promissory note, James Haile and David A. Hays agreed to rent the slave Paul for $13.50 per month for the year 1856 from William Spradling, the administrator of the estate of William Keeton, who had died a decade earlier. James N. Haile (b. ca. 1826) was a miner and David Hays (b. ca. 1812) was a farmer and smelter in Saint Francois County, Missouri. They likely hired Paul to work in the lead mines of Saint Francois County or neighboring Jefferson County.

[SLAVERY.] James Haile and David A. Hays, Manuscript Document Signed, Promissory Note for Rental of Slave Paul from Estate of William Keeton, January 1, 1856, [Saint Francois County, Missouri]. 1 p., 7.875" x 4". Expected folds; small edge loss at upper right, not affecting text; very good.

Complete Transcript
We or either of us promise to pay William Spradling Administrator of the Estate of William Keeton Deceased, at the rate of $13.50 per month for the services of Paul a Slave of said Estate, for the term of one year or for a shorter term at the option of the Administrator
As witness our hands and Seales this first day of January 1856
James [Haile?] {seal}
David A Hays {seal}

[Verso:]
$162.00 1 year
90
$161.10
James Hale

Historical Background
According to one source, John Keeton of Frankin County, Tennessee, owned approximately twenty slaves. He hired his wife's brother, Deputy Sheriff William Keeton, to help him take his slaves to southern Illinois to mine salt. When that venture proved unprofitable, he took them to Missouri to mine lead in the 1820s. When John Keeton died in 1826, William Keeton was appointed the administrator of his estate. He brought the slaves back to Tennessee and purchased them in a "rigged" estate auction for low prices. A court later found the auction to have been a fraud.

William Keeton took the slaves back to Missouri, where they resumed their work in lead mining. William Keeton fathered a daughter, Susan, in 1837 with Hannah Mariah Cole, who was married to another man. She divorced her husband in 1844 and married William Keeton in October 1845. He died in late 1845, but a court in St. Francois County in southeastern Missouri legitimated Susan as William Keeton's daughter in January 1846. His widow, who had remarried to John R. Darrow by 1850, and his daughter claimed ownership of the slaves, but the heirs of William Keeton (his siblings) and the heirs of John Keeton (his children) also claimed the slaves. They filed suit in St. Francois County, Missouri, to obtain ownership of the slaves. Paul was not among the slaves listed as belonging to John Keeton, so William Keeton must have purchased him separately. William Spradling and Hannah Mariah Keeton served as the administrators of William Keeton's estate. The 1850 slave schedules for Saint Francois County, Missouri, list only one slave belonging to the "Estate of Wm Keeton," an 18-year-old female mulatto.

The case continued for several years, including an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, where the decision of the county court was reversed and remanded for further proceedings. The case continued into the Civil War, and by the time the court finally ruled that the slaves had been purchased fraudulently from John Keeton's estate, the Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment had freed all the slaves.

William Keeton (1788-1845) was born in Virginia and moved with his family to Illinois. By 1810, he was living in Franklin County, Kentucky. About 1815, John Keeton married William Keeton's sister Elizabeth. William Keeton bought land in Franklin County, Tennessee, about 1825 and soon became deputy sheriff in Franklin County, Tennessee. When John Keeton died in 1826, William Keeton became the administrator of his estate but made only token distributions to John Keeton's heirs.

William Spradling (b. 1790) was born in Virginia, and by 1850 was a farmer in Saint Francois County, Missouri, where he was listed as owning three 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.

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