- Written by
- Witsell, Mary, American, born 1782
- Subject of
- Witsell, Eliza, American, born 1815
- Witsell, Emanuel, American, born 1815
- Date
- February 1844
- Medium
- ink on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 12 1/16 x 7 3/4 in. (30.6 x 19.7 cm)
- Description
- A bill of sale for an enslaved woman named Nancy written at Witmarsh Plantation in the Colleton District of South Carolina by Mary Witsell in February 1844. It is a single page document handwritten in brown ink on linked paper. The price for Nancy is given as $125.63. Spaces remain blank where the buyer's name is to appear, where his or her legal representatives are meant to sign, and where the specific date in February should appear. The document reads in part: [bargain sell and deliver to the said (blank space) the / Negroe Slave named Nancy____ / To have and to hold the said Negroe Slave and / her future increase unto the said (blank space)]. At bottom right, in black ink, is Mary Witsell's signature and handwritten seal. At bottom left, in black ink, is the signature of two witnesses: [Eliza Witsell / Emanuel Witsell]. On the verso, which appears as the front when folded, is handwritten in graphite: Bill of Sale / From Mrs. M Witsell / of girl Nancy / February 1844].
- Place made
- Colleton County, South Carolina, United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- Liljenquist Family Collection
- Classification
- Slavery and Freedom Objects
- Documents and Manuscripts
- Type
- bills of sale
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Liljenquist Family Collection
- Object number
- 2012.158.16
- Restrictions & Rights
- Public domain
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




