Account Ledger Page 1800–1801, with reference to “Dr. Phillip Robinson, Negro” and a Mutiny Trial

Item Details

Single double-sided manuscript ledger page, kept between June 1800 and late 1801, from a Virginia estate. The document records routine accounts for agricultural work, payments in cash and kind, and the purchase of household goods such as shoes, breeches, gloves, and linen. Among these ordinary entries appear moments of particular historical significance.

The ledger identifies by name “Dr. Phillip Robinson, Negro,” a seldom-seen surviving example of an enslaved person recorded both personally and by their trade in an estate account. The page also contains a notation regarding attendance at a mutiny trial, with “young negro Frank” specifically mentioned as being present.

Other names, including Charles Banning and Joseph Neal, appear within the accounts, Month-long tallies of work, cash settlements, and credit for labor rendered.

From a Virginia family estate; acquired with a small group of early-nineteenth-century papers.

Condition

Single leaf, written on both sides in brown ink on laid paper. Moderate age toning with scattered foxing and light soiling; minor creases and small edge nicks. Bottom edge trimmed, causing slight loss to the final line of the last entry on the verso; remaining text clear and legible overall, with minor ink offsetting consistent with period use.

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