1794-02 Sale: Jef
- Identifier
- NJS-EVE-00668
- Source
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Letter from Robert Finley to John Neilson regarding Jef
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Letter from John Neilson to Robert Finley regarding Jef
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Letter from Robert Finley to John Neilson regarding Jef, February 27, 1794. Archival location: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Neilson Family Papers, 1768-1908 (MC 933). Box 4, Folder 45: J & J Neilson - Papers relating to purchase of slaves.
Letter from John Neilson to Robert Finley regarding Jef, February 25, 1794. Archival location: Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries. Neilson Family Papers, 1768-1908 (MC 933). Box 4, Folder 45: J & J Neilson - Papers relating to purchase of slaves. - Event Description
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Correspondence between Col. John Neilson of New Brunswick and the Rev. Robert Finley of Princeton in February 1794 discussed Neilson's plans to purchase Jef from Mr. Mattison of Princeton for the sum of 90 pounds. It is unclear whether this sale was ever finalized.
In a letter sent on February 25, 1794, Neilson asked his friend Finley to discreetly find out information about Jef's skills and character. Neilson sought information from someone other than Mr. Mattison and hoped to get an honest assessment of Jef's personality and habits. On February 27, 1794, Finley sent a reply saying that he had asked around and obtained information from Samuel Snowden, who had lived with Mattison and was well acquainted with Jef. The name Samuel Snowden mentioned by Finley in the letter likely refers to the Rev. Samuel Finley Snowden (1767-1845), a Presbyterian minister who was studying theology in Princeton at the time and would become the pastor of the Princeton church in 1795.
Finley's letter described Jef as a healthy and sober young man 21 years of age. Jef was skilled at tending a kitchen garden and had limited experience managing horses—an activity that he seemed to like. Finley also noted that Jef routinely left the household at night because he was lonely at Mattison's home. Most likely, this means that Jef was separated from his family at Mattison's and had to go outside of the household in order to see his loved ones. This was a common situation for enslaved young adults in New Jersey who often experienced isolation in white households and were at a considerable distance from their own family members.
For the full transcript of the two letters, see the linked source documents. - Event Type
- Sale
- Date
- February 1794
- Related Event
- 1793 Sale: Jef
- Primary Participants
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Jef (b. ca. 1773)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01509
Role: Sold Person
Age: 21
Status: Enslaved
Enslaver(s) of this participant:
- Mr. Mattison
Verbatim description from source:
"negro boy belonging to Mr. Mattison; healthy & 21 years of age" - Additional Participants
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Mr. Mattison
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01510
Role: Enslaver, SellerJohn Neilson (1745-1833)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-00001
Role: BuyerRobert Finley (1772-1817)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01508
Role: WitnessSamuel Finley Snowden (1767-1845)
Person identifier: NJS-PER-01799
Role: Witness - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker