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THB[SLAVERY] 1708 Will Codicil for NYC Slaveowner
![[SLAVERY] 1708 Will Codicil for NYC Slaveowner](https://s1.img.bidsquare.com/item/xl/3565/35656297.jpeg?t=1VXt13)
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About Auction
LiveDec 13, 2040
Fleischer's Auctions info@fleischersauctions.com
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- Lot Description
Manuscript document signed by William Leaths. New York City, New York, 17 May 1708. 2 pages, folio, 11 7/8 x 8 1/2 in. With original red wax seal.
A manuscript codicil (supplement) to the will of William Leath, in which he bequeaths "unto Col. Caleb Heathcote five pounds to be disposed by him towards the building of a Church at the Towns of Stratford in the Colony of Connecticut." Witnessed by three men, P. Staats, Rich. Lott, and William White. The document also features a striking "skull & crossbones" red wax seal adjacent to Leath’s signature. The verso bears two endorsements, each dated 17 May 1708 and signed by Thomas Wenham, certifying that the witnesses observed Leaths execute the codicil and that it was duly attested.
Notably, the original will which was dated on 26 April 1708, made provisions for an enslaved boy: "William Leath leaves 'to my servant, Wan the Spanish Indian boy, now living with me, his freedom, provided he serves my wife seven years." (Dutch New York, Chapter VII. "Servants and Slaves", pp.152-153).
Surviving records that explicitly reference enslaved individuals of Indian heritage in colonial New York are rare, and rarer still are those that preserve both the legal mechanism of conditional emancipation and the personal dimension of the enslaved individual.
[African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]
Condition
Only slight marginal humidity toning.
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