Letter -- from William Bonner to "Col. Jordan"

[001]

Page 1st

Near Calhoun, Jordan [County] [Georgia] May 1 1875

Col Jordan,

Dear Sir, yours of 29th ult. is at hand, with notes [and] I
hasten to answer your enquires. I received 25 Negroes
from Isaac Ramsey 2 [January] 1st 1859, valued at
$18,000. I bought from Isaac Ramseys estate
1st Tuesday in December 1860 four negroes
one woman at $1190 One man $1600 one
boy at $1760 [and] one boy at $1105. On 1st Tuesday
in [February] 1861 at sale of Mrs Ramseys part of
the negroes I bought one man at $1,400.00
one man, wife, [and] 1 child at $1,900.00
one man, wife [and] 3 children at $3,900.00
Add 1st negroes received (Jany. 1 1859) $18,000
Boy Bob at $1760 [December] 1860 $1,760
Boy Lewis at $1105 [December] 1860 $1105
Boy Ben at 1600 [December] 1860 $1600
Girl Betsey at $1190 [December] 1860 $1190
whole amount of negroe bought $30,855

Thirty thousand eight hundred [and] fifty
five dollars

I can not now say exactly when Phorien [?] Ramsey paid the
cost of his note but I am disposed to think it was in the
year 1862. If I had the old note Phorien Ramsey gave for
$7700, and see all the credits on it, I could tell more about
it. It was paid previous to March 10th 1863. I am
almost certain for at Macon I spoke of this, and you
will see a note for $2585 given by John Bonner for
money which I [received] at Macon at that time. You also
see one note the $1800 which I got in [September] 1863. I think
you had failed to send a copy of one note. Gen. Toombs [?]
said that there was one note for $4700 dated in May
after I come from Camp Davis in 1862. I see none of
that date [?]


[002]

By my calculations, the amount of money paid to
me for sale of land as shown by the notes [and]
credits amount Oct. 24th 1865, to $8378.60 cts [?]
Amount paid for perishable [?] property Nov 1st 1865 5,057.18
The money paid for the land was $8250.00 I believe,
and for the perishable property I think $7500 now
you see my calculation for the land is very nearly
the amount but for the perishable property there
is a deficiency of near $2500.00 I maybe have made
a mistake or else some of the notes are not provided
in court which were paid for the stock, [etc]
All the notes of which you send me copies
amount to (not any interest counted) $16,590
Deduct note for negro boy Lewis (no sale) $1,200
Amount actually due $15,390
Add value of negroes $30,855
makes $46.245


You know I sure that at Macon each of
the legatees received $46,000 in deciding all accounts
made by Mr. Ramsey during his life and that I
then paid each one $460 which made each one have [?]
up to that date $46,460.00 and you know by the
return of the Ordinary of Columbia Co. that I have a
receipt for $28,000 and one for $1,800 not including
the negroes given by Mr. Ramsey in this lifetime.
All the amounts make for my [unknown] up to Sept.
10th 1863 negroes [unknown] $18,000
amount received at Macon $28,000
amount received Sept. 10th 1863 $1,800
Paid my myself in Macon March 10th 1863 $460
Whole [amount] received for [unknown] up to Sept. 10th 1863 $48,260


[003]

I enclose you a copy of my calculations [etc] of notes

1 note of $1475 [January] 3rd 1861 amounts [?] Nov 1st 1865
according to my account to $1933.55

1 note of $1170 March 4th 1861 to Nov 1st 1865 $1552.30

1 note of $3600 Decr. 29th 1862 to Nov 1st 1865 $4286.00

1 note of $2585 March 4th 1863 to Nov 1st 1865 $2959.97

1 note of $4760 Feby 6th 1862 to Oct 24th 1865 $6054.60
[total] $16,786.42


You will see by looking at all the notes that
these are all the notes marked or paid or in any
way [concluded?] by John or Mrs M Bonner
the note for $1800, you see John Bonner says was
returned for amount [?] of consideration, Jany 13th 1869.
The note for $1200 for negro boy also has a similar
endorsement and is true. Now you will see
by the entries on the notes that the notes which
were taken up for land were as follows.

[remainder of page 3 not transcribed]


[004]

[accounts at top of page not transcribed]

Now you see a deficiency of $2500 in the
credits for stock [etc.] you see no other
entry on the $3600 note but a credit of $905.36 Nov 1
1865. Now what went with the balance of
the $3600, after the $905.00 was paid? It does not
show what was done with it. Gen. Toombs lied
about the date of the $4760. He said it was in May
1862 about 60 days after my return from Camp
Davis. If you have sent me exact days I
can show you that was a lie. I did not go to
Camp Davis until March 1862 and the money
was loaned before I left, so he is a liar. I expect
you have sent me all the nots (as I see by
the calculations) I mean all they showed in court
but I saw others in DuBose [?] hands in the
court here [?] I think any other [unknown]
you need write. We will settle about the [unknown]
I hope you will understand my [unknown] altho they
are badly made. They are right I think.
I will come down in some if all [?] We
will [and] send love to the family, yours [etc]
[William] U. [?] Bonner


[remainder of pages not transcribed]