This letter was probably written by Nicholas Sinnott, Jr. (1816-1889) of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was married to Arabella D. Kenaday (1826-1906). For most of his career, Nicholas worked as a coal dealer. He wrote the letter in 1858 to John Calhoun, President of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad to complain that his wife’s black nursemaid—a young slave—had been forced to get off the train because the ticket agent was told she was a free black, which prohibited her from entering the State of Mississippi. Apparently she really was a slave but she had been told she was free because it was the intent of her owners to award her manumission papers once the estate was settled.

The irony is that she would have been allowed to remain on the cars and enter Mississippi as a slave but not as a free black.

Transcription

Magnolia, Mississippi
December 19, 1858

John Calhoun, Esq.
President of N. O. J & G. N. Railroad

Sir—A quadroon girl who has resided in my family both in Mississippi & New Orleans for several years, was compelled to leave the cars by Mr. McGrath on Saturday, 18th inst., leaving my wife with the care of an infant, to come on alone to this place. The case is one of peculiar hardship. My wife was unaware of the regulation excluding free people from Mississippi. The ticket seller gave her a pass to Magnolia for a Colored servant without asking any questions nor did she become aware of the difficulty until called upon by Mr. McGrath for tickets some time after leaving New Orleans. The girl is the daughter of a wealthy planter of Rapides by a slave.  The mother was manumitted after her birth, and by an oversight, the child’s name was omitted in the Act. The White family intend to perform this act as soon as the Estate is settled but she is a slave. She was placed in my wife’s charge by her father’s lawful heirs and having been raised respectably in consideration for her feelings, is represented as free. And although my wife explained this as far as was possible for a lady, Mr. McGrath refused to permit her to pass. As my wife feels that she is in a manner responsible for the girl, and moreover, she is my child’s nurse, I hope you will order her to be passed over the road as early as possible. Please notify me that I may order her to come what day. By so doing you will oblige. Yours respectably, — N. Sinnott

Magnolia Depot