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about 135 acres
50 arable
70 wood
rest marsh

it is likely will be very slow in being paid,- so that were any considerable number of poor thrown upon their hands, they must starve, as the Overseers have no means at hand or at Command, except the corn and potatoes, growing on the farm which are almost entirely needed to carry on the farm for another year. And indeed if they were all used as soon as they are ripe, enough to be used, they will avail for the support of twenty or thirty persons but a very short time. If only the few colored persons who are paupers and who were residents of the county before the war were thrown upon their hands the Overseers would do the best they could to support them, but if all who have resided in the county since the commencement of the war are thrown from their hands and especially if to them were added the many from distant counties & states likely to become paupers their support by any means at the command of the Overseers is simply an improbability. In conclusion the undersigned would respectfully suggest that in the impoverished condition of the people of this County that the Freedmen's Bureau should sustain the colored poor belonging to the County before the War until such times as the Overseers can take charge of them without danger of their starving or greatly suffering and in the meantime remove to the Counties they came from those now paupers or likely to become so, of whom there are very many whose support is very precarious and will become more so as winter approaches.  Indeed very many of them are driven to pilfering to sustain themselves, so that in some localities The

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-10-16 08:12:45