Receipt for sale of Milly and her children, Susan, Henry, Harriet and Nancy
date: label: Date
content: August 7, 1852
name: label: Written by
content: Sarah McClelland, American, born 1793
notes: label: Caption
content: Receipt for sale of slave, Milly, and her four children (Susan, 12 years; Henry, 10 years; Harriet, 6 years; and Nancy, 4 years) to T.B. Hickman for $400. Sold by Sarah McClelland, who describes this as her 1/5 of the estate of Morgan Bryan. Bryan was Sarah's first husband, who died intestate about 1823 in Kentucky, opening the door for a claim by four of Bryan's heirs. When she moved to Missouri with the slaves, they filed suit, claiming that this violation of Kentucky laws meant that she forfeited her rights to all of the slaves. Sarah remarried, a man named James McClelland, in 1827, relinquishing control over Phillis and her daughter Milley to him. When McClelland died in 1833, the women were inventoried in his estate. The other slaves by then were in possession of her son-in-law, D.H. Hickman and sons John and Milton Bryan. Hickman and Milton Bryan signed this document as witnesses.
label: Caption
content: Source: Nancy Bercaw, Curator, Slavery and Freedom
label: Description
content: A receipt for the sale of the enslaved woman, Milly, age 28, and her four children (Susan, 12; Henry, 10; Harriet, 6; and Nancy, 4) by Sarah McClelland to T.B. Hickman for $400. This bill of sale is handwritten in brown/black ink on white paper. The bill of sale is signed by Sarah McClelland at the bottom right corner, next to the handwritten word "seal" enclosed in a jagged circle. At the bottom left of the page, the document is signed by D.H. Hickman and Milton Bryan as witnesses. On the reverse side, there is handwritten script at the top center of the page that reads "Sarah McClelland / to Bill Sale to / T.B. Hickman."
place: label: Place made
content: Boone County, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Children
label: Topic
content: Commerce
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Finance
label: Topic
content: Motherhood
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Slavery and Freedom Objects
label: Classification
content: Documents and Manuscripts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2015.248.3.1
objectType: label: Type
content: bills of sale
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 7 1/16 × 7 13/16 in. (17.9 × 19.9 cm)