: To be sold at Publick Vendue, at Ten o'Clock on Thursday
Morning, the 19th Instant, at the House of the late Adolph
Philipse, Esq; deceased, on the Manour of Philipsburgh; Four
Negro Men, viz. a Miller, a Boat-Man, and two Farmers; three
Negro Women; six Negro boys, and two Girls; Houshold [sic] Goods,
and all the Stock, consisting of 40 odd Head of Cattle, 26
Horses, a number of Sheep and Hogs, and all the Utensils
belonging to the Said Manour. -New-York Gazette, April 9,
1750.
Conducted onsite in 1750, the Adolph Philipse auction was like
many a modern-day estate sale in its arrangement and execution.
Advertised in the New-York Gazette, it attracted bidders,
many known to the family, who jovially greeted one another,
helping themselves to biscuits and tea, chocolate and rum as they
previewed the assortment. They moved from room to room, here
admiring silver tankards, cane chairs and a tea table, there
appraising pewter plates, glass tumblers and a backgammon table.
Fineries aside, the Philipse sale was an atrocity, unimaginable
today. Included on the inventory, drawn up by Philipse's nephew
Joseph Reade, were the names of 23 enslaved Africans, including a
girl, 3-year-old Betty, barely out of diapers.
