| Roll Number | 9 |
|---|---|
| Date | 12 March 1870 |
| State | Maryland |
| County | Queen Anne |
| City/Town/Neighborhood | Centreville |
| Other Locations Mentioned | – |
| Authors | Wm. Potts |
| Position | – |
| Recipient | Major W.L. Vanderlip. S.T. of schools |
| Other Names Mentioned | – |
| Message Abstract | States that many of the colored people of the place are dissatisfied with the trustees for employing a carpenter, who is a Conservative, to build their school-house, while he (Potts), a good Republican, offered to build the house for ten dollars less than the contractor. Thinks the house will have to be sold, as many of the people refuse to pay what they agreed to &c. &c. &c. |
| Message Body | I take my pen in hand to drop you a few lines to let you know how the trustees of the school is managing the bissiness here with regard to the school house which they are about to bill and the prospect is that they will never pay for it and the reason why is simply, ^this they have gone contrary to the peoples wishis and they say they will never give them one cent to help pay for it the reason is they have given the work to a man who is their enimy and pay him ten dollars more than they could have got it built for by their friend i am the only white man that have ever done or said anything for them in the county and for the truth of this i will refer you to The . Hon. Judge Hugh . L. Bond of Baltimore and . Capt. Knoure of the freedmans Beaurowe and . General . Dinison post master in that city i am a carpenter and the people at large wanted me to build the house but the trustees have given it to a man who is nothing more or less than a conservative and the people have kick against it say they will never pay their mony to a man like that when i a good republican are turn down and the consequince will be that the house will have to be sold to pay for it self and the money that you are to give them will be lost but conservatism prevails here we have five men here in office under a republican admistration and not a republican in the whole party nothing but conserativesand one of them showed his principle to you so i am told when you was over here i mean J.T. Hand assisent assessor in this county Mr Creswell has another in his office John H. Thompson and the post master here in this town will hardly give a colard man a pleasent answer when he goes for his mail two mail carriers these are the men who reaps the rewards of a republican administration while the true who shouldered his musket and left his home and family, and went forth with life in his hand to battle with the enimys of the country and are killd up and crippled from disease and exposure are left out and forgotten while those that stayed home and done all the harm they could do are the men who reaps the rewards i am a republican and i was a soilder in the union army and my name is recorded in Washington as such and i want it to stand there until Gabrel shall blow his last trump and swear by him that liveth for ever that time shall be no more, that is the kind of republican that i am away with conservatism and all other tisms except true undauntd republicanism that is the kind of republican that i am and as such i am turn down when conseratism or rebelism is kept up i applied through Mr C.E. Fulton jr for the pitiful office of post master of this town but conservatism prevaild while republicanism and the old union soilder was forgotten and turned down no more but remain yours William Potts |
| Pages | 1256 |
| Transcribers Notes | – |
If you are citing this record, please use the following format:
[Author (if known)], Freedmen's Bureau Correspondence on Schools, 1869-1870, 1870, Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.
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