[Manuscript Legal Affidavit Regarding Disputed Ownership of Several Named Slaves in Antebellum Louisiana]

East Baton Rouge Parish, LA: October 25, 1836. [1]p. on a single folded sheet, integral blank docketed on verso. Old folds, moderate toning and foxing, short closed tear along one fold line, a few small instances of ink burn. Overall good condition. An interesting document of legal testimony involving numerous named slaves in Louisiana in 1836, ranging in age from one year to almost thirty years of age, and including seven children. According to the docketing, the document is effectively a "Title to Slaves." The deponents were two local citizens, John Bills and Andrew Black who had "personal knowledge of the fact that James D. Stuart and his wife Mary Gayle are now and have been for the last ten years & upwards the bona fide owners and possessors of the following named slaves: Juba Aged 25 and Sicily his wife aged 22 to whom have been born the children Braxton aged six years and Dan aged 3 years. Also the negro woman Celia aged 28 years and her children Mary 11 years Margaret 8 years Charley 6 years Sarah three years, which slaves Juba, Sicily & Celia were acquired by inheritance from the estate of Christopher Gayle.... And they further depose that the negro woman Rachel aged 17 years was inherited by the said Stuart from the estate of his deceased mother...and that the said Rachel has now a child named Jacob of the age of one year...." The document is signed by Black, Bills, and the Justice of the Peace Daniel D. Avery. Documents involving slave inheritance of, and subsequent ownership by, not one but both members of a marriage are exceedingly rare..