| Name | Age | Color or Race | Sex | Role in document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John W. Nicholls | White | Male | grantor | |
| James B. Gordon | White | Male | grantee | |
| Esther | 11 | Mixed race ("mulatto") | Female | enslaved |
Bill of Sale. John W. Nicholls sells to James B. Gordon “one Slave a Negro girl named Esther aged about eleven years of bright mulatto color and I do hereby warrant the said negro Slave Esther to be sound in mind and body free from constitutional disease or defect as far as I know…”. No further information available about Esther or her relationships, and this is a rare mention of “mulatto” in Wilkes County Deed Books. Sale price was $885. Document was signed April 4, 1860, presented in Court April 7, 1860 and registered April 9, 1860. See also NC.WIL.T.459.1 and 518.1 for other James B. Gordon slave purchases. In NC.WIL.T.484.1, John W. Nicholls says he is putting all his property in Trust to guarantee payment of debts, and he includes an enslaved girl Easter (“10 or 11 years old”), but doesn’t mention Esther in that document. They probably are different girls, since Nicholls thought it important to point out that Esther is a mulatto in NC.WIL.T.518.2.
