Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47291

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47291

Eli Mitchell and Edmund Bellinger Signed Promissory Note. One page, 8 x 4 inches, [North Carolina]; January 6, 1857. A promissory note from Mitchell and Bellinger to Bolivar Jackson Pridgen, "Guardian for Wiley W. Pridgen Minor," pledging "three hundred and seventy Dollars for the hire of a negro man named Louis M and Milly his wife for the year 1857." Signed, "Edm Bellinger," and "Eli Mitchell." Docketed on the verso.

Bolivar Pridgen moved to Texas in 1839, settling first in Harrison County. During the Mexican War, he served under both Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor. By 1850 he had become a substantial landowner, receiving 200 acres of land and twenty-two enslaved people from his mother-in-law, and the 1860 census records him as owning seventeen enslaved individuals. After the Civil War, Pridgen entered politics as a Republican state senator, emerging as one of the most active members of Texas's Moderate Republican faction during Reconstruction.

Condition: Lightly toned with smoothed folds. Uneven edges with some wear, including several small chips at the right edge, not affecting text. A few light, scattered stains. Remnants of red sealing wax on the verso.

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