Bill of Sale for 17-Year-Old Mary

1836

Enslaved girls were considered valuable for their ability to have children.

Bills of sale documented the legal transfer of property from one person to another, including enslaved African Americans treated as property under slavery. Enslavers, businessmen, and government officials used bills of sale to document the sale of enslaved African Americans. These documents sometimes include the name, age, and physical condition of the person being sold. For enslaved women and girls, their physical condition included their fertility.  

This bill of sale documents the sale of Mary, a 17-year-old girl, from Gerd and Ann Riecke to Charles Seignious in Charleston, South Carolina. The Rieckes sold Mary with her “future issue and increase” (the future children she was likely to have) for $625 (over $20,000 today).