Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

241 c   (LABOR.) Group of 3 circulars for the Charles H. Smith & Co. labor exchange, offering “Colored Domestic Help fromVirginia.” Various sizes, all 6 x 7 inches or smaller, light wear to one of the circulars, one with faint 1889 ink stamp. Richmond,VA, 1889 and undated [600/900] Charles H. Smith & Co. was a “general help & labor exchange”which specialized in sending domestic servants from Virginia to the north. These circulars were provided to prospective employers. One card describes the virtues of “Colored Domestic Help fromVirginia”:“As a rule, these servants are polite, willing, and obliging. Long accustomed to being subservient, they are by nature docile and obedient, and appreciate the kindly treatment they receive at the hands of Northern people.”Another card is headed “Our Terms” and explains the process “to order male or female colored house-servants” for “patrons in NewYork or vicinity”—it sounds as simple as ordering a chair or a pet. Finally, a smaller card offers advice for “When the new hand arrives.” 242 c   (LAW.) Cheswell, Wentworth. Document signed by the nation’s first African- American elected official. Autograph Document Signed, 12 x 7 1 / 4 inches, with postscript written and signed by two arbitrators; folds, light toning. Newmarket, NH, 7 June and 15 July 1813 [400/600] Wentworth Cheswell (1746-1817) was the grandson of a freed African-American slave in addition to his three-quarters European ancestry. He went on to a successful career in Newmarket, NH as a teacher, farmer, and clerk. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he rode to the colonial capital to convey Paul Revere’s warning, and then served for two years in a New Hampshire regiment. In his lifetime, he was variously described as white, yellow, or mulatto; he is now generally regarded as the first African-American to hold elected office. He was regularly elected by his townsmen to the offices of constable, selectman, auditor, and other positions from 1768 until his death. Cheswell was elected as a Justice of the Peace for Rockingham County, NH in 1805. As a justice he signed this order for debt case to be referred to a hearing with two arbitrators. Cheswell was probably the only man of acknowledged African ancestry to routinely wield this level of legal authority in America during this period. Macon Bolling Allen, often mistakenly called the first African-American Justice of the Peace, was not elected until 1844. 241