Page 28 - Georgetown Prep - Endowment of Tears, Hope for Reconciliation

In 1829, Gabe was sold by Georgetown College to James F. Purvis for $450
GUA
1829
Further Developments in the search for Gabe (Gabriel Dorsey)
By 1829, William William McSherry, S. J., the Provincial of the Maryland Jesuits, was becoming more convinced that the Jesuits should sell their slaves and use the money to strengthen the financial condition of their schools, especially Georgetown College. At the time, James F. Purvis was acting as a Washington area agent of the slave trading firm of Isaac Franklin and John Armfield. Headquartered in Alexandria and New Orleans, the company was the largest dealer of slaves on the East coast and the most profitable in the country. In 1829, Purvis, a nephew of Isaac Franklin, used Robey’s Tavern in Washington and McCandless’s Tavern in Georgetown as centers for buying slaves.
Purvis may have made contact with Joshua Millard at one of these places. Millard often acted as the agent of the Fenwick family and also of Georgetown College. Records indicate that on June 18, 1829, the College received $450.00 from Purvis (acting on behalf of Armfield and Franklin)
Jesuit Provincial, who was ultimately responsible for all Maryland Jesuit property.
According to historian Joshua D. Rothman, Purvis delivered Gabe to John Armfield who kept him in the Alexandria jail through the summer and into the fall awaiting transport to United States, a brig owned by Franklin and Armfield.
The ship’s manifest listed Gabe’s full name as Gabriel Dorsey and his skin color as brown. United States arrived in New Orleans on October 30, 1829.
On December 5, 1829, Franklin sold Gabe and 29 others to his uncle Isaac, the largest slave trader in the lower Mississippi Valley. Isaac Franklin paid $700 for Gabe, one hundred dollars more than any other slave in the group of 30, indicating that there was something distinctive about him.What became of Gabriel Dorsey after his purchase by Franklin remains a mystery that both Prep and Gonzaga students are seeking to answer.
Cash Book, GUA
A notation found by Prep student Ryan Martin ‘19 in a Georgetown College cash book indicating that in June of 1829 the College had sold Gabe to James Purvis, who at that time was purchasing slaves in Georgetown and in Washington, D. C., for the slave trading firm of Franklin and Armfield of Alexandria, Virginia.
NARA
United States, revealed that Gabriel’s surname was Dorsey, a very common surname among whites and African Americans living in Maryland.
NONA
Isaac Franklin, the largest slave dealer in the Mississippi Valley, dollars more than he paid for any other slave in the group of 30.