Following my three part series on the slaves of my 5th grand-father James Sims I’ve made a commitment to write a post on a monthly basis until I’ve RELEASED all of the names of slaves owned by my ancestors. During October, Family History Month, I worked through a large chancery file pulling as much information out of it as possible and posting weekly in hopes of helping the descendants of the slaves mentioned.
I RELEASED Delph, Ben, Sukey, Tom, Jacob, Peggy, Aime, and their children Sandy, Britton, Reuben, Betsey, Pleasant, Benjamin, Cynthia, Calvin, Sarah, Susan, Adeline, John, William, Mary, Alice, Jacob, Ellender, Giles, Edward, Serena, Lucy, Margaret, Sam, an [unnamed] infant, Martha, Charles, and Green (or Gwen). This is a continuation of information found on these slaves including the Bills of Sale found for the original 7 slaves, Delph, Ben, Sukey, Tom, Jacob, Peggy, and Aime.
Bill of Sale for Peggy and Aime
The Bill of Sale for Peggy and Aime slaves of Mary Smith was found in the Chancery Records Administrator of Mary Smith vs Samuel Saunders, Franklin County, Virginia, index number 1851-022.
These are screenshots of the Bill of Sale found.
Mary Smith
Bill of Sale
Peggy Aime
“GG”
Recd this 26th Day September 1819 of Saml
Saunders infull of the Within named Negroes
named in the within Bill Sale
her
Teste Mary + Smith
Richard Beckett mark
Know all men By these Presents that I Mary
Smith of the County of Franklin for and in the
consideration of the Sum of three hundred
& fifty Dollars current money of Virginia
to me in hand paid by Saml Saunders
of the Said County have Bargained & Sold
and by these Presents Doth Bargained & Sold
and Deliver & Confirm unto thre Said Saml
Saunders one Negroe Woman named
Peggy and one Negroe Girl named Aime
which I the Said Mary Smith Do Warrant
& Defend unto the Said Saml Saunders his
heirs Executors Administrators & Assigns and to
the only use & Behoof of the Said Saml
Saunders and I the Said Mary Smith
Do Warrant & forever Defend the Title
of the Said Negroes from me my Heirs
Executors Administrators or Assigns firmly
By these Presents as Witness my
hand & Seal this 8 Day August
1815
Teste her
Braxton James Mary + Smith (Seal)
Spencer James mark
Bill of Sale for Aime (additional)
Smith Mary
To Copy deed
Gideon Smith
“II”
This Indenture mad (sic) this eleventh day of June in
the year of hower (sic) Lord eighteen hundred and nine-
teen Mary Smith of the one part and Giddeon
Smith of the other part, both of the County of
Franklin & State of Virginia, Wittnessed that for
and in consideration of the Sum of one Dollar to
the said Mary Smith in hand paid by the said
Giddeon Smith the Recepts (sic) whereof she the sd
Mary Smith doth hereby acknowleg (sic) have granted
given & delievered unto the said Giddeon Smith
one female Negar (sic) Girle (sic) Named Ame (sic) to have and
to hold the said Negar (sic) Ame (sic) & all her in Crees (sic)
to the said Giddeon Smit (sic) and his heirs forever
in fee simpl (sic) in wittnessed whereof the said
sid (sic) Mary Smith have set her hand & seal
the day an (sic) year above written
Teste her
James Cannady Mary X Smith (Seal)
James Towney mark
Chesley Rakes
At a court held for Franklin
County December 6th 1819. This Bill of
sale from Mary Smith to Giddeon Smith
was proved by the oath of James Cannady and
James Towney two of the Wittnesses hereto and
the same was ordered to be recorded.
Teste. Caleb Tate C.F.C.
[Transcribed 27 October 2015 from the image found in the chancery records.]
Note: Gideon Smith was the son of Mary (Hairston) Smith.
This is the last of the documents found in the Chancery Records Administrator of Mary Smith vs Samuel Saunders, Franklin County, Virginia, index number 1851-022.
- Images 2 through 5 are the bill of the plaintiff Joseph Peters, the administrator of the estate of Mary Smith (7 pages)
- Images 7 through 13 are the answer of the defendant Samuel Saunders (10 pages)
- Images 43 through 62 are the will and the bills of sale for the slaves
- Depositions were given by William Martin, Samuel T. Palmer, William Herd (twice), Stephen Cannaday, Brice Edwards, Jane Radford, Frances Hale, Alvin Lewis, Edward Cockram, Samuel Sneed, Isham Cockram, Joshua Knowles, James Ingram, Chisley Rakes, Drury Haynes, Braxton James, Robert T. Woods, Thomas Stanley, Thomas Keys, Booker Mullens, Samuel Hale, Wiley P. Woods, Matthew Martin, and Sarah Boyd. If you are interested in any specific person I made notes of the images of each person who gave witness and will be happy to share.
Posts related to the Mary Smith vs Samuel Saunders Chancery Records:
Slave Name Roll Project: RELEASING Delph, Ben, Sukey, Tom, Jacob, Peggy, Aime and the children
Slave Name Roll Project: Bill of Sale for Delph, Benjamin, and Sukey
Slave Name Roll Project: Bill of Sale for Tom
Slave Name Roll Project: Bills of Sale and Memorandum of Agreement for Jacob
Slave Name Roll Project: Bills of Sale for Peggy and Aime
Slave Name Roll Project: A Conclusion Concerning Delph’s Relationship in the Family
© 2015 Cathy Meder-Dempsey
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Opening Doors in Brick Walls 
Thank You so Much Cathy. All the work you put into this Series was a Blessing. Not only are you preserving this History for the Future. You are showing and teaching others how to do “The Work” in the Genealogical Standard for folks who have “Slave Papers” and aren’t sure what to do. Let this be a teaching tool as well. Granddaddy Ike would Proud I’m keeping company with some good folks! who are releasing the Names of this Brethren and Sisters from the wounds of Slavery. xoox’s, True- Great Great Granddaughter of Ike Ivery.
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True thank you so much for your comment. I so appreciate your thoughts on my work. I was glad to get this done during Family History Month. As I wrote this comment tidbits of information found in the testimony, which I couldn’t find the words to write about, flowed. I will be adding one more post which I hope will be of interest to Delph’s descendants.
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Cathy, I read all these posts hoping to one day find one of my enslaved ancestors. I hope that other who are in possession of these bills of sale follow your lead and share the papers. Thank you so much. What you have done with this project is amazing and a blessing. I can’t even imagine the people this is going to reach/help through this series. I am so excited. Keep up the good work and know you are appreciated.
To those who are in possession of similar papers, please follow the lead of the people who have worked so hard on this amazing series. As a descendant of people who were enslaved, I cannot tell you how important this work is for us. It is necessary because it will help us find/trace our ancestors. So many will be helped through the Slave Name Roll Project. Cathy, thank you so much for what you do and continue to do.
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I could not have better stressed the importance of sharing these important documents, any documents for that matter, with the public. Thank you Bernita. I hope you will not have to wait too long to find your enslaved ancestor in a similar document.
Thank you for reading all of the posts!
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