The following letter was written by Washington J. McConnel (1810-1885) of Greensboro, Guilford county, North Carolina. Washington was married to Jane E. Lindsay in March 1840. He was married a second time to Emily S. Sperry of Baltimore, Maryland in September 1846.

From census records we know that McConnel was a “merchant” in Greensboro for most of his life though I cannot find any additional details as to the nature of his business. He was known to be on the board of directors for a local insurance company and may have also dealt in real estate. Unfortunately, we can’t tell from the letterhead what the nature of his business was either except that he clearly kept a store or office in Goldsboro. Only his name, “W. J. McConnel” appears above the door.

McConnel wrote the letter to Elwon Benjamin Mace (1807-1865) who married Susanna Staton (1809-1854), and married second, Betsey Lane (1832-1874) in May 1854.

Transcription

Greensboro, [North Carolina]
December 27, 1854

Benjamin Mace, Esq.
Dear Sir,

Mr. Jolly is in want of a Negro woman & I have told him that you had one to hire & that I should not wait here. Any contract you make with Mr. Jolly is perfectly good and I will see it paid & I have no doubt you will find him a good hand to hire too.

Very respectfully yours, — W. J. McConnel