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Charlotte C.H. Virginia
May 1, 1866  
                                               
Lieut. E. Lyon                                       
Provost - Marshal
at Charlotte C.H.

[[stamp]]THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES[[/STAMP]]

Sir,

Being the acting Executor of my father Wm M. Watkins decd, and as such having control of his landed estate near Mossingford Depot in this county, I take pleasure in answering the 29 written questions propounded by you and which are before me in their order.

1. Two thousand and twenty acres, of which 380 acres, separated from the main body of the land by a stout stream, are rented this year to two white men named Tharp, and the remaining 1640 rented to my sister and a brother and the former manager or "overseer" 

2. The 380 tract, cultivated by the two Tharps assisted by one or two freedmen, has about 40 acres in corn and about 8 in tobacco; the 1640 acre tract has about 20 acres in Rye, 70 in wheat, 120 in oats, 175 in corn and 50 in tobacco.

3. Between 20 and 25 of whom 18 are men, the rest women and [[strikethrough]]children[[/strikethrough]]boys, are cultivating the larger tract - six of these were formerly slaves of my father.

4. Corn wheat oats tobacco. A little rye. We grow small crops of peas, turnips, potatoes other garden vegetables.

5. In the general, nothing like as well, but thus far, during the present year, infinitely better, on most farms, than was expected. On my father's farm, I think they work almost as well as when they were slaves.

6. Much better. The contrast I think very striking. Last year, turbulence, insolence, idleness and insubordination were the rule

Transcription Notes:
Have most everything, missing a couple names at the top. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-27 19:40:58 Eliminated the tab-overs. Added missing stamp transcription. Added missing strikethrough text ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-28 10:50:01 eliminated tab-over that seemed to have come back. Corrected a couple of words.