A letter to George Washington

I thought I would share a recent discovery with ye socks after perusing an online collection of George Washington at the University of Virginia:

http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/confederation/stith.html

This letter written exactly 222 years ago yesterday was sent to our first president by my great-uncle Buckner Stith (1722-1791).

Actually, he hadn't been elected president by that point. We were still operating under the Articles of Confederation in 1787. I suppose that's why the letter was sent to Philadelphia instead of Mount Vernon.

Boring genealogical details: Yours truly descends from Buckner's younger brother Richard Stith of Campbell County, Virginia. All three of them (the two Stiths and Mr. Washington) worked as surveyors as young men. And, two of Buckner's sons married into the Washington family.

History lesson over . . . for today.

What a tangled web!

Yep, still reading the book about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

Hope ye socks aren't getting bored with these posts on the subject, but it's been a good read and I've been learning a lot.

Today's little genealogical tidbit concerns Jefferson's wife. I never knew anything about her before. Her name was Martha Wayles, and it turns out she was the half-sister of Hemings!

On a personal note, I also discovered that Jefferson was her SECOND husband. And, her first husband was a fellow by the name of Bathurst Skelton.

Well, the Richard Stith that I mentioned in previous postings was a grandson of a lady named Susanna Bathurst. A peculiar name, not like Jones or Smith. So, I'm sure there's a connection somewhere. Need to do a little sleuthing on this one . . .

Back to the book . . .

Reading between the numbers

Further to yesterday's post, I've been delving into the accounting of that sale of slaves imported to Virginia aboard the ship The Prince of Wales back in 1772.

I am finding it is just another sad example of how cold accounting can be, and how much information cannot be conveyed by strict columns and numbers.

In this case, the compiler failed to note the ship actually began its voyage in Africa with a human cargo numbering 400.

Only 280 survived the trip.

Of that number, 266 were sold on the auction block.

What happened to the other 14? For that matter, what happened to the 266 after they were purchased?

What we do know is that folks back then were an awful lot like folks today. They bought on credit, promising to pay the sales agents Richard Randolph and John Wayles (father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson) when their tobacco crops came in.

But, tobacco prices plummeted that year, and the debtors failed to pay-up, reluctant to take the loss on their devalued crop. (To put it in modern terms, it would be like having to pay based on your home equity or 401(k) balance.)

To add to the mess, Mr. Wayles dropped dead in 1773. Mr. Randolph was left holding the bag. So, when the slaves' consignor John Powell & Company of Bristol, England, demanded payment, he had to get a "bail-out" from the firm of Farrell & Jones.

Unlike modern bailers, though, F&J went after both Randolph and the Wayles estate to try to recoup their losses. The case dragged on for many years, and I haven't yet found out how it was resolved. But, I doubt we will see such doggedness when it comes to recovering any of the bail-out money being so recklessly issued up in DC nowadays . . .

To borrow an accounting term, the "bottom line" for ye socks here is that you've got to appreciate that there's almost always a lot more going on behind the numbers on a financial statement--be it an historical one or a modern-day example.

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

That's the title of a book [ISBN 9780393064773] by Annette Gordon-Reed that the Orange County Library System was kind enough to deliver to yours truly this afternoon.

I had seen the author on a recent talk show, which sparked my interest. She's a smart cookie, teaching both law at NYU and history at Rutgers. And, I figured any work that wins a National Book Award is worthy of a perusal. Besides, the whole genealogy angle is always appealing to me.

Though I am only just beginning to delve into it, I have not been disappointed so far. Gordon-Reed writes in a style that is easily followed, and cites her sources in a way that would make any English teacher proud.

Before I began reading, I couldn't help myself but check out all the illustrations inserted in between the pages near the middle of the book. Often times, pictures do indeed say a thousand words and offer the best prelude to a lengthy text like this.

Imagine my surpise (and discomfort) to discover the third illustration of the accounting of a slave sale dated 30 December 1772 included my own ancestor Richard Stith among the list of buyers of human chattel.

Clearly, this book's subject matter is going to be as challenging to this descendant of slaveowners to read as it must have been for the descendant of slaves to compile.

Fortunately, I'm always up to a good challenge . . .