Charles W. Thruston

The papers of Charles William Thruston (1796-1865) at the Filson Club contain numerous bills of sale for slaves, as well as agreements for hiring out slaves. He is described in one of the card catalog entries as a slave “broker,” as well as a merchant and ropewalk or cordage businessman.1

He hired a slave girl in 1832, hired five slave boys in 1834, and (potentially) also sold some slaves.

One of the hiring agreements, from December 29, 1834, mentions a Joshua:

Recd. Dec. 29th 1834 of C. W. Thruston Five Hundred & thirty five dollars & 90 cts. being the amount in full, to this day, for the hire of my boys, Joshua, Bill, Peter, and Lewis, and likewise for the hire of Mr. B. Churchill’s boy Cornelius. $535.90 Henry Churchill2

There is also a Charles Mynn Thurston. Unclear how these two were related: perhaps cousins?3 They are both clearly descended from Col. Charles Mynn Thruston, one of whose sons (Judge Buckner Thruston) had a son in 1798 known as General Charles Mynn Thruston, who moved to Maryland. I think Jim Holmberg said that Charles W. Thruston was himself originally a Charles M. Thruston, but changed his middle name to William to avoid confusion with the others.

  1. See around 50 such items in the miscellaneous folder found under Mss. C T. The larger collection of his papers is in Mss A.T530. I examined Folders 5-6.↩

  2. Charles William Thruston Papers, Filson, Ms. C T.↩

  3. See Mss. A B668e 222 in Filson, Bodley Papers, for genealogical information.↩