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Conditions Governing Access

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Preferred Citation

Thomas Skinker letter, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased with the Nelle Richardson Tonkin fund.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas K. Skinker (1805-1887) was born in Fauquier County, Virginia. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1838 where he purchased property he named Ellenwood. Skinner also owned a plantation in Brandon, Rankin County, Mississippi, in which he held enslaved people. The letter is addressed to Dr. Nathaniel Vanderwall Clopton (1786-1855) who was from Morgansburg, Virginia and worked as a physican in Fauquier County, Virginia. Clopton was also a veteran of the War of 1812. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) Skinker was required to sign an oath of loyalty to the Union Army as a person who owned enslaved people.

The letter contains accounts of Skinker hiring enslaved people owned by Clopton and subsequent prices and details including a refrence to the Mississippi dollar. Skinker also comments on two seperate enslaved poeples' physical and mental conditions in regards to their labor value. Skinker mentions several enslaved people by name thorughout the letter. At the end of the letter, Skinker breifly mentions his family.

Content Description

A single four page letter written by Thomas Skinker to associate Dr. Nathaniel Vanderwall Clopton of Virginia from whom he describes renting enslaved people. The letter concerns topics relating to slavery including the annual hiring of named enslaved people and details about an injured enslaved person.

Arrangement

The Thomas Skinker letter is arranged by item.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Fauquier County (Va.)--History
• Missouri--History--19th century
• Saint Louis (Mo.)--History--19th century
• Slavery--Mississippi--History
• Slavery--Virginia--History--19th century