Brigham offers to buy enslaved Black man in order to free him.
Brigham Young, Letter to Mrs. Lewis, January 3, 1860, Brigham Young Office Files, CR 1234 1, CHL
You are frequently importuned to sell your negro Jerry, but that he is industrious and faithful, and desires to remain in this Territory. Under these circumstances, I should certainly deem it most advisable for you to keep him, but should you at any time conclude otherwise and determine to sell him, ordinary kindness would require that you should sell him to some kind faithful member of the Church, and that he may have a fair opportunity for doing all the good he desires to do and is capable of doing. I have been told that he is about forty years old, if so, it is not presumable that you will, in case of sale, ask so high a price as you might expect for a younger person. If the price is sufficiently moderate, I may conclude to purchase him and set him at liberty. Your Brother in the Gospel, Brigham Young