Browse Items (458 total)

Rev. Francis Vespre, SJ records twenty distinct conditions placed on the sale of the people owned by the Jesuits. Conditions 1-8 have to do with the religious and family life of the people who are to be sold, and conditions 9-20 have to do with the…

The grave marker of Alex Scott in Immaculate Heart of Mary Cemetery in Maringouin, Louisiana. Alex or Alexius Scott was born in Newtown in 1825 to Bennett and Clare Scott, sold by the Jesuits to Jesse Batey in 1838 along with the other members of the…

This remarkable letter from 1820 narrates the case of Becca, an enslaved woman who approached Fr. John Baptist Cary at Georgetown College after fleeing from her owner, a man who is described in the letter as "very hard & has no religion at all."…

In this letter from 1816, Bishop Neale explains the rules governing Catholic marriages between enslaved persons. Priests had to get permission from the slaves' owners and the owners had to promise not to separate husbands and wives.

Fr. Lucas…

This deed of gift between William Hunter and Thomas Jameson finalized the sale of goods and items from "Brittons Neck," an early Jesuit plantation on the land that became Newtown Plantation. The transaction named 15 enslaved persons who were sold…

In this letter written six years after the sale of 1838, Fr. Vespre notifies Fr. Mulledy that their agent in New Orleans, Edmund Forstall, had negotiated a new payment arrangement with Gov. Johnson for the money due to the Jesuits from the sale of…

After the sale of 1838, Dr. Jesse Batey requested an indemnification for three enslaved persons: an enslaved woman, and two infirm enslaved men. This letter from Fr. Vespre to Fr. McElroy recounts Dr. Batey's claim and the position of the Jesuits on…

This 1835 entry from the Maryland Province Cashbook documents the sale of four enslaved women at St. Thomas Manor. This group of women were sold by the Jesuits for $1300.00.

This balance sheet for 1839 (compiled by Joseph Zwinge, S.J., in 1909) shows proceeds from three prior sales of enslaved people: a sale to Henry Johnson in 1835, a sale from White Marsh to Grafton Tyler in 1838, and a sale from St. Thomas Manor to a…

This list of expenses of the Maryland Province, probably compiled in the early 20th century by Jesuit historian Joseph Zwinge, S.J., shows how the Jesuits distributed some of the funds collected from the sale of 272 persons in 1838.

The most…