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Hazelwood, J.M., (fl. 1877) to Blanche Kelso Bruce

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09400.104 Author/Creator: Hazelwood, J.M., (fl. 1877) Place Written: Bulah Mississippi Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 6 February 1877 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 24 x 20.4 cm.

Summary of Content: Hazelwood is writing the Senator for money that is owed to him. The note is according to the docket 400 dollars, and he wants an additional 100 dollars as his interest amount. It seems like Hazelwod might be in trouble of some sort since he wrote "I have employed a good lawyer to defend me in Circuit Court. I am almost confident that I will be cleared because I have done nothing."

Background Information: Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of ...the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898. See More

People: Bruce, Blanche Kelso, 1841-1898
Hazelwood, J.M., (fl. 1877)

Historical Era: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

Subjects: African American HistoryAfrican Americans in GovernmentCongressLawReconstructionGovernment and CivicsDebtFinance

Sub Era: Reconstruction

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