ADVISING MRS. MARY D. BLOCKER, OF JONESVILLE, TEXAS, THAT A SHIPMENT OF CORN WAS ON ITS WAY, ON INVOICE FROM THE FIRM OF BRANDER, CHAMBLISS & CO., NEW ORLEANS, IN AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED MAY 11, 1861

Single sheet of blue paper, 28 x 23 cm., one page of text (verso blank), approx. 200 words in a neat hand. Old fold lines, two short splits along folds at left margin, not affecting text. The representative of Brander, Chambliss & Co., G.G. Burke [sp?] addressed his letter to Mrs. Mary D. Blocker: "Dear Madam. We have today shipped the Corn ordered by you on board the Steamer D.R. Carroll to Swanson's Landing, Red River, the Invoice of same you will please find herewith enclosed [not present here] amounting to $86.10 to the debit of the Estate of W.J. Blocker...." He goes on to apologize for the delay in the shipment as they are having "severe times" (truncated) in New Orleans. He says the price for cotton is very low and he has omitted price quotations on it altogether. He hopes there will be no blockade to interrupt commerce and mentions war movements all over the country. William J. Blocker (ca.1811-1859) settled in Texas in about 1841, arriving there from Alabama. He received a land certificate of 640 acres in Harrison County and began farming cotton, using enslaved labor. By 1855, he had a substantial plantation. "As the antebellum decade came to a close, William J. Blocker was clearly a member of Harrison County's planter class. He owned more than 2,000 acres and held a labor force of more than thirty slaves." When he died in 1859, leaving behind a wife and seven children, he also left several unpaid debts. Many of his business affairs were handled by the New Orleans factor and commission merchant firm of Brander and Hubbard (reorganized as Brander, Chambliss in May 1861). His widow Mary continued to use their services to sell the plantation's cotton and obtain supplies to run the estate until early 1862 when the Blocker's debt was paid off. [see: the article by Randolph Campbell, "Family History from Local Records: A Case Study from Nineteenth Century Texas," pp. 13-26, in the East Texas Historical Journal, Vol. XIX, No. 2, 1981]. (Inventory #: 67143)