LIST OF SUPPLIES WANTED FOR THE USE OF ORANGE HILL PLANTATION, SO AS TO ARRIVE EARLY AT MANCHIONEAL BAY IN JANUARY 1833.
Cottage Manchioneal, Jamaica: 1832. Folio sheet, 12-3/4" x 16," folded to [4]pp, each page 12-3/4" x 8." A two-column list of supplies on page 1; the entirety of page [2] is an autograph letter, signed by Archibald McKowen from Cottage Manchioneal, Jamaica, 30 May 1832, to Gilbert McNab, Esquire. Signed by McKowen at the top of page [3], followed by 'List of Debts due by Orange Hill', total 1263 pounds. Page 3 ends with a note from McKowen headed "P.S." Folded for mailing, with partial postal cancel, bold ink mark over the postal McNab address. Very Good.
This document is a window on the business of an active Jamaica slave plantation. It begins with a densely written manuscript supply list for the Orange Hill estate, needed in January 1833, nearing the end of the plantation slave system in Jamaica. The list includes provisions and tools associated with plantation management ["8 doz. good negro knives"], food, household items, carpenter tools, and other supplies. Orange Hill was one of numerous Jamaican estates operating within the island's plantation economy, reliant on enslaved workers prior to emancipation and subsequently on apprenticed laborers.
The second page is a long letter to Gilbert McNab discussing activities and life on the plantation, with detailed information on various foods, including herring which was "satisfactory to the Negro," and clothing for them. Item #42286
Price: $1,250.00