sed to keep one or
two horses, and various vehicles, by which I did a variety of work at
hauling about town. Of course I had to hire more or less help, to carry on
my business.

In the manufacture of tobacco I met with considerable competition, but
none that materially injured me. The method of preparing it having
originated with me and my father, we found it necessary, in order to
secure the advantage of the invention, to keep it to ourselves, and
decline, though often solicited, going into partnership with others. Those
who undertook the manufacture could neither give the article a flavor so
pleasant as ours, nor manufacture it so cheaply, so they either failed in
it, or succeeded but poorly.

Not long after obtaining my own freedom, I began seriously to think about
purchasing the freedom of my family. The first proposition was that I
should buy my wife, and that we should jointly labor to obtain the freedom
of the children afterwards as we were able. But that idea was abandoned,
when her master, Mr. Smith, refused to sell her to me for less than one
thousand dollars, a sum which then appeared too much for me to raise.

Afterwards, however, I conceived the idea of purchasing at once the entire
family. I went to Mr. Smith to learn his price, which he put at _three
thousand dollars_ for my wife and six children, the number we then had.
This seemed a large sum, both because it was a great deal for me to raise;
and also because Mr. Smith, when he bought my wife and _two_ children, had
actually paid but five hundred and sixty dollars for them, and had
received, ever since, their labor, while I had almost entirely supported
them, both as to food and clothing. Altogether, therefore, the case seemed
a hard one, but as I was entirely in his power I must do the best I could.
At length he concluded, perhaps partly of his own motion, and partly
through the persuasion of a friend, to sell the family for $2,500, as I
wished to free them, though he contended still that they were worth three
thousand dollars. Perhaps they would at that time have brought this larger
sum, if sold for the Southern market. The arrangement with Mr. Smith was
made in December, 1838. I gave him five notes of five hundred dollars
each, the first due in January, 1840, and one in January each succeeding
year; for which he transferred my family into my own possession, with a
_bond_ to give me a bill of sale when I should pay the notes. With this
arrangement,