Here is a record of an auction some relatives of mine were involved in on December 24, 1857. An ancestor of mine, a James Magee had died, and left property to 4 adult children, who in turned auctioned off the property, although one of the heirs, William Magee, bought at the auction (always the best way to establish a fair price) one of the slaves, John, for $630, and John Magee bought Fred for $720.
A direct ancestor, Benjamin Spiers paid $700 for Martha, and a stranger bought Selee for $410. Like all appalling institutions, the paperwork is sickening. There is the commission for the auctioneer, to whom is also is paid a fee for showing up (no guarantee there will be a buyer) and of course advertising, clerk and lawyer fees. The tally is reckoned gross sales, less costs, and the net is divided by the four heirs.
Think for a moment of the slaves, being informed by the master: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is tomorrow is Christmas. The bad news is we are auctioning you off today."
The Spiers and Magees intermarried several times, my grandmother, Mary Magee Spiers married my grandfather, Edward Howard Spiers (yes, her maiden name, ahem, was Spiers.) These people were rich, paying top dollar for slaves. My father had an ex-slave as a servant when he was a child.
The Howard in Edward Howard Spiers, comes from Arundel, England, the Howards, Duke of Norfolk. They all did very well when they were wicked, such as when a Howard supplied Henry VIII with his 5th wife, Catherine Howard. What recommended Catherine to Henry VIII was she was an innocent country girl, which was an outrageous lie her father, my ancestor, plied. For some of the funniest Elizabethan language regarding Catherine's investigation before she was executed, see page 157, Henry VIII's Last Victim. When the Howards were good, they did poorly.
My children are appalled by this slave auction bill of sale, that they could be descended from people who owned slaves. O dear. There is much I should not tell them, then. But the lesson I offered was not what any ancestors did, but what might we do today that is perfectly common but is objectively evil and future generations will read about and be appalled? Just because it is legal and there are lawyers and agents and so many other respectable people involved does not make it right.
These were all God-fearing people, like right-wing warmongering Christians today. The Bible says a man's sins are visited on his house unto the 3rd and 4th generation. As far as I can figure, Benjamin's fourth generation grandson (my grandfather) was wiped out in the '29 stock market crash. There goes the family fortune!
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