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NARA 157

Point Caseville New Hanover County North Carolina 8th August 1868
Allan Rather General

Sir
In reply to yours of 3rd Agust, in relation to my authority for holding in service Hays Costin I will simply state that at the Court of Pleas and Justice sessions, September three 1866, the said boy was bound to me, his father appearing in court and stating, that his was entirely willing that I should take him upon the conditions named in the indenture - the boy as you have no doubt been informed is an illegitimate but claimed by his father, and he desires that he should be kept away from his mother, who has since married a man, whose influence over the morals and character of the boy has been most promiscuous. The court, or chairman of the court, would not become a party to the transaction until full and ample proof has been offered, both as to the paternity of the boy, the wish of the father to bind him to me, and of the miserable influence which were at work to make the boy a nuisance to society - It has already cost me some ten dollars to get the boy bound to