Black Entrepreneurs
Claim by “Negro Essex” on the estate of James Woodland, November 17, 1808
1806: To grubbing done in the spring, to the amount of $7.50
Credit by payment: $2.50
By cash: $2.00
Balance: $3.00
Queen Anne’s County, to wit: On the 7th day of November 1808 appears Negro Essex before me, the subscriber, a justice of the peace for said county, and makes oath on the Holy Evangels of Almighty God that the above account is just and true as stated, and that he hath not received any part or parcel thereof, or any security or satisfaction for the same, more than the credit given.
Samuel Sturgis
[spelling and punctuation have been modernized]
Free people of color worked hard to earn a living — and sometimes had to work almost as hard to receive the wages that they were owed. In this 1808 document, a Black man named Essex files a claim in the county court for a balance of $3 owed to him for his work “grubbing” (digging up roots and weeds) for a white farmer several years earlier.
The reverse side of the page (not shown) attests that the farmer’s heirs ultimately paid to settle the account. A woman named Dinah Brown — possibly a family member — received payment on Essex’s behalf.
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