[Document, Signed, Indicating Taxes Paid by a Free Black Man in the Seventh Ward of New York City in the Early-19th Century]

New York: April 18, 1815. About very good.. Partially-printed document, completed in manuscript, 7.75 x 6.75 inches, docketed on verso. Old folds, with one fold line reinforced on verso and the other fold line almost completely separated. A very rare record of the experiences of the lives of free African Americans living in New York City in the early-19th century, even before the War of 1812. Here, a "black or mulatto man" named John Smith attests that he "rents a tenement in a house in Henry street" and "has been assessed in the seventh ward of the said city, and that he paid taxes in the year one thousand eight hundred and eleven." Smith has also signed the document with his mark, an interesting swirling "H"-shaped mark unlike the "X" usually seen on historical documents signed by illiterate individuals. The document is also notarized by a New York official. This is the first such document we have encountered.