How to buy the book

You can order at History Press as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other on-line retailers. I will send you a signed copy for $23, a little extra to cover shipping. I will send you both Slave Labor in the Capital and Through a Fiery Trial for $40. Send a check to me at PO Box 63, Wellesley Island, NY 13640-0063.

My lectures at Sotterley Plantation in St. Mary's County, Maryland, on September 23, 2015, and the DAR Library on December 5 are now blog posts below listed under book talks. The talk I gave at the Politics and Prose Bookstore on February 28, 2015, along with Heather Butts, author African American Medicine in Washington, was taped by the bookstore. Take a listen.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Payroll for Capitol carpenters August 1795

"Two slaves owned by Purcell, Tony and James, worked at the Capitol along with Hoban's Harry."

Quote from Slave Labor in the Capital, page 107

When making copies of payrolls I was unable to get the whole document which meant I often didn't show who signed for receipt of wages. That is one way to tell who owned the slaves listed in the payroll.


Fortunately the National Archives put a similar payroll on-line to answer queries prior to Obama's Inauguration in 2009 about whether slaves worked on the public buildings.


The scan of that June 1795 payroll shows that Redmond Purcell signed for Tony's wages. The scan of the photocopy I made of a similar August 1795 shows more clearly that Harry's name was prefaced with "negro" which is how slaves were designated in many payrolls.
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