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Preferred Citation

John H. Watrous Letter, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of James K. Gardner, September 2018.

Content Description

Four page letter addressed to Cousin Sarah from Richmond, Va. Watson describes the abundance of food and goes into great detail of the description of their cook. His choice of words are a gross exaggeration of her appearance and quite offensive. He also mentions attending an auction selling enslaved individuals. He writes that all of the ladies for sale were dressed quite elegantly and fetched a large sum. In his closing comments he mentions that he feels well suited to the area like it far better than Connecticut, and that while he has not contracted Yellow Fever yet, he expects it to hit him any day.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Auctions--Virginia
• Slavery--Virginia--19th century
• Yellow fever