Bill of Sale (Fraser/Fraser)

On July 7, 1829, Liberty County Sheriff Benjamin Mell sold to  Joseph Jones, as an agent for the Sunbury Female Asylum, for $690 “ten certain negroes, named Sambo, Eve, Sarah, Jean, Paris, Elizabeth, Sambo, Scipio, Affy, and Toney.” The Sunbury Female Asylum had sued the estate of John E. Fraser in Liberty County Superior Court, and had obtained a judgment against the estate according to which Mell seized these enslaved person and “exposed[d] them to sale at the Court-house in Riceboro of said County, on the first Tuesday in July. Jones, representing the asylum, had made the highest bid. Recorded in Liberty County Superior Court on July 7, 1829. 

Attached to this deed was the following statement: “June 25th 1829. According to an order of the Directress of the Sunbury Female Asylum, convened at the Church in Sunbury, & proceeded to business, which was 1st to take into consideration the state of this Society, etc. 2d to consider the subject of the legacy bequeathed by John E. Fraser deceased, & which legacy, with interest amounting to the sum of $691.87, will shortly be collected by the Sheriff of the County. Whereas it being ascertained that the son & only surviving orphan of Jno. E. Fraser, the [benev]olent donor of this Society, is now in distressed circumstances; every item [few words missing due to page being torn] being under levy, to be sold at public auction on the first Tuesday in July; We, the officers & members of the S.F. Asylum, assembled on this 25th day of June 1829, do unanimously resolve to appoint & empower an agent to attend the sales of said property, & to purchase property to the amount of our execution, & to convey & transfer the same from the S.F. Asylum in trust to some suitable person for the benefit of said orphan & his heirs forever. Signed: B.R. Screven, 1st Directress; Ann Winn, 2d Directress; E.G. Robarts, Treasurer per E. Jones; E.S.L. Jones, Secretary.” 

Also included was a statement by the same signatories appointing Joseph Jones to attend the sale of the estate of John E. Fraser’s property, and “in our name to purchase property to the amount of the above stated execution.” He was to “transfer the same to the surviving orphan or son of the said John E. Fraser in trust to George W. Walthour, for the sole benefit & use of said orphan.” Signed on July 2, 1829 in the presence of Jos. [Joseph] E. Maxwell, Henry M. Stevens.

In an annexed deed, Joseph Jones, as agent for the Sunbury Female Asylum, transferred the above named enslaved individuals to George W. Walthour “in trust for the use, benefit & behoof of John S. Fraser, a minor.” 

All recorded in Liberty County Superior Court on July 7, 1829.