74 total pages bound by tied ribbon in period script, covering mid 19th century slave trade details of the Meek family, ripe for research, 12 x 7-3/4 in. when laid flat 

Provenance: Private Tennessee Collection

Note: This document outlines an 1842 complaint by Washington County (Virginia) investor Samuel Logan filed with the Chancery Court of the Town of Franklin, Tennessee. In it Logan claims that money is owed to him by the slave trader Jesse Meek and other members of the Meek family operating throughout the deep South and into the Southern backcountry. Over 200 slaves are listed within this 37 page document, written front and back, with age, price realized, and purchaser name. An interesting survey indicating activity in Livingston, Mississippi, Mobile, Alabama, New Orleans and Natitoches, Louisiana and also the backcountry of Abingdon, Virginia, Rogersville, Knoxville, and Nashville, Tennessee. A Court resolution was ultimately determined through specifics related to purchase prices and incurred expenses. 

Details of travel routes, origins, and resultant placement of individuals sold, as well as loans for funding purchases, credits extended, and even “swapping” can be gleaned from this file. In one case, five shares of the steamboat “Alabamian” were traded, in another, “4,400 acres of Texas land”. Many early Southwest Virginia names are mentioned throughout this thorough account of the slave trade in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.