Chief Justice Marshall Slave Bill of Sale
Subject - Slavery - Virginia
Autograph manuscript, Bill of Sale, sale of a slave family dated 3 July 1787, 1 page,
John B. Johnson sells slave woman, named Dicey, and her child; on verso John Marshall writes bill of sale for mother and child to Jaquelin Ambler.
This bill of sale may be found in the Connecticut Historical Society, within the Dixon - Welling family collection, Ms 46829.
Provenance: the donor, Miss Elizabeth Dixon Welling, daughter of Dr. James Clarke Welling 1825-1894. president of George Washington University
Chief Justice John Marshall
An Annotated Bibliography of the Dixon-Welling Family Collection at Connecticut Museum of Culture and History
Unpublished
1787
Caroline Welling Van Deusen, Project Archivist
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
5x7 stationary paper
-En
Text
Ms 46829
US
Chief Justice John Marshall Bill of Sale – Slave Dicey from John B. Johnson to Jaquelin Ambler dated 3 July 1787
African Americans--Genealogy
Handwritten on the page; <br /><p><em>I do hereby bargain, sell & convey in absolute property to John Marshall for seventy pounds which I have this received from him one negro wench named Dicey with her child and do bend myself, my heirs executors & administrators to warrant and defend completely totally unencumbered to the said slave & her issue John B. Johnson</em></p>
<p><em>July 3<sup>rd</sup> 1787<br /><br />Verso of the page; <br /></em></p>
<p><em>For this within mentioned sum of seventy pounds which I have reserved I bargain, the within mentioned slaves to Jaquelin Ambler Esquire.</em></p>
<p><em>JMarshall</em></p>
<p><em>Chief Justice</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
The family of Sen. James Dixon, Elizabeth L.C. Dixon and Dr. James Clarke Welling opposed slavery. Why or how this one page document was among the Welling family papers donated to the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History is unknown.<br /><br />The summer of 1787, John B. Johnson owned and sold an African-American woman, named Dicey, and her child Chief Justice John Marshall for seventy pounds. On verso, Chief Justice John Marshal passes the bill of sale for this mother and child to Jaquelin Ambler, Esq. <br /><br />This transaction in 1787, four years after John Marshall of Virginia married Mary Ambler, daughter of Jaquelin Ambler, Esq. of Virginia.
Johnson, John B.
Chief Justice John Marshall
An Annotated Bibliography of the Dixon-Welling Family Collection at Connecticut Museum of Culture and History
1787 Jul 03
Chief Justice John Marshall
CC BY 4.0 DEED
Donation to Connecticut Museum of Culture and History by Miss Elizabeth D. Welling, October 1936
1 page document
-Eng
Document
Ms. 46829