Charles H. Lloyd to Samuel Breese Letter

Content Description

This collection features a single letter written by Charles H. Lloyd, addressed to his uncle, Samuel Breese of Oneida, New York. Lloyd writes from Harrisonburg, Virginia, asking his uncle for funds to return to New York as he cannot find other employment. He writes, " I am situated so that I cannot move at all. I have tried to get a situation here in place of the place but unsuccessfully and all because I am not a good writer & Bookkeeper. I feel very anxious indeed to get back to New York but Mr. Baily has no money to pay my expenses back and can not let me have it for 6 or 8 weeks." Rufus W. Bailey, a Virginia American Colonization Society Agent, employed Lloyd. The American Colonization Society, also known as the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freeborn Black people and emancipated enslaved people to the continent of Africa, specifically Liberia. In the letter, Lloyd writes that Bailey can not cover his cost to return because "He [Bailey] is about sending a Ship of Emigrants to Liberia and is getting them down the Vally [sic] as fast as possible, but they will not be ready to sail before October 1. He then expects to have $1,000 at last and more if he sends over 100 emigrants. He is obliged to pay all their expenses until they go and told me yesterday he could not possibly let me have a dollar until his ship has sailed." During the Liberian emigrant voyage discussed in this letter, which sailed November 1, 1851, on the Morgan Dix, approximately thirty-seven of the 149 passengers died on board the ship or during the acclimation period in Africa.

Acquisition Type

Purchase

Provenance

Purchased from Michael Brown Rare Books. 20 January 2023.

Restrictions Apply

No