Barbour, James; et al. Settlement of Accounts of Farrow & Harris. Letter form the Secretary of War, transmitting The Information required by a resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 31st ultimo, in relation to The execution of the Law of the 3d of March, 1825, for the relief of Nimrod Farrow and Richard Harris. 19th Congress, 1st Session, Doc. No. 104. Washington: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1826. First Edition. [11879]
Removed, newly stab sewn, 9 x 5 1/2 inches, 61 pp. Good. Pamphlet.
Nimrod Farrow and Richard Harris suffered losses due to a storm which destroyed fortifications that they were building for the US Government on Dauphin Island, Alabama. This is an appeal for remuneration with investigations into the value of property lost, and of the value of property - including slaves - either lost or offered in compensation, in an official US government document.
One of the interesting things about this document is the listing of slaves as property, "What is the present situation, so far as it comes within your knowledge, of each particular item of property, whether land, houses, brick-yards, slaves, tools and implements, or any other description of property..." p. 15. There is a list of 41 slaves, repeated several times, with their first name only and their ages, with a request to have the value of each of them revealed to the investigators.
This proceedings of this document pertain almost entirely to the value of slaves and the recovery of that value to Farrow and Harris.
"Col. Toulmin and Mr. Gunnison are requested to say, upon oath, what the three negroes, Jim Cassen, Lonzo, and Winney, were worth in May, 1820, and what they are worth now...from the description of the three negroes above mentioned, they were worth two thousand dollars, and the same in 1825." - p. 44.
There is a separate list of 36 slaves, first name and age, sold to Nimrod Farrow, all of good health, except the one named Edy, who is "unable to retain her urine, and which malady has been declared by a physician to be probably incurable." p. 58.
This dispute went on for some 20 years, with multiple Congressional reports seeking a resolution of the entire matter.
