SLAVERY IN NEW YORK: "ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS TO PURCHASE THE FREEDOM OF MY WIFE."


Autograph Document Signed of Thomas Leonard, 1 p, 83 x 197 mm, Harlem, June 9, 1812, negotiating the freedom of his wife, page moderately toned.In part: "Received ... of W. James Bogert Jr One Hundred and Twenty five Dollars to purchase the Freedom of my wife which sum I promise to pay in the servitude of myself and wife as shall be agreed upon / Thomas Leonard." In this document, freeman Thomas Leonard offers to buy the freedom of his wife (unnamed here) for the sum of $125, to be paid by their servitude to W.James Bogert., Jr. A Thomas and Mary Leonard settled in the Syracuse area in 1830, just after the elimination of slavery in New York.