Description
"When Humans Were Sold" - (excerpted from longer article) - A BILL OF SALE - Yesterday Mr. Will E. Spratt of the firm of John F. Tyler & Co., had occasion to look for an old paper which belonged to his grandfather, William Spratt, who when the Platte Purchase was first acquired, to Missouri and lived here from that time until he died.
He settled near Lexington (Lafayette County, Missouri) and was an extensive land owner. He owned a large number of slaves and at different times bought and sold them the same as other Southern planters. With him it was as common to sell and buy slaves as it is for the present farmer to buy or sell stock.
While Mr. Will Spratt was going through the old papers yesterday packed away in one corner of the receptacle, he found an old paper which Is a curiosity. It is drawn up in the handwriting of the old gentleman and is in a good state of preservation. The paper is of the old-fashioned kind, and is far better than the general run of the present date. The old document tells its own story this way:
Know all men by these presents that I, William Skaggs, of the county of Lafayette and State of Missouri, have this day for and in consideration of sum of $800 to me in land paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, granted, bargained md delivered, and by these presents do grant, bargain and deliver unto William Spratt of the county and state aforesaid a certain negro man slave for life, named Dick, about 24 years of age. And I hereby warrant the said negro to be sound and healthy, both in body and mind. Given under my hand and seal this 7th day of December 1840. (Seal.) Wm. Skaggs.
(Researcher's note: Numerous Spratts and Skaggs were Platte County enslavers.)Date(s) of Creation
12/7/1840
