[Manuscript Legal Document Formalizing the Sale of a Family of Five Enslaved Persons to Lois G. Adams of Mississippi]

Madison County, MS: November 12, 1842. [1]p. Old folds, minor foxing and toning. Very good. A somber document memorializing the sale of an entire slave family to a Mississippi woman in 1842. Here, local official Hugh A. Lawson documents Lois G. Adams's purchase of "the following named slaves to wit -- Paul & his wife Letsy and their three children Monroe Simon & Halsett Alford." The document seems to document the family's last name as "Alford," perhaps providing a better-than-usual opportunity for genealogical research into the family's descendants. Adams paid $750 for five people. Also somewhat unusual, Lawson indicates the transaction occurred "by virtue of a purchase of said slaves at Sheriff sale.