An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 23

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it > Part 23

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Noah, the ancestor of Julius Yale, was the owner of a slave named Chatham Freeman, who earned his freedom by serving in the place of his master, as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The story goes that when he at last became a free man he told his former master that he "wanted to be married just like white folks." According to the Wallingford records, Noah Yale emancipated Chatham, his wife Mercier and child Jube on April 29, 1782.

Some little time after the marriage he came to Mr. Yale and said he wanted to be "unmarried as I never can stand it to be married to that woman." On being told that there was no remedy-that now he was married he must stay so, he went away exclaiming, with uplifted hands, "Oh Massa what I gwine do, what [ gwine do?" Chatham afterwards made the best of his bargain, became a land- owner and lived in a house that formerly stood on Paddock avenue just north of the driveway leading to the house of Charles Z. Murdock. Another negro named Cato Freeman, perhaps a brother of Chatham, lived in a house just over the line in Wallingford, on Misery road. Its site is now occupied by the homestead of John Francis. Fowler's "Historical Status of the Negro in Connecticut," has this to say :

"Pews were set apart for the negroes in the meeting-houses, where they gen- erally were present ; they were often questioned about the sermon heard on the Sabbath. They joined the church, if qualified ; their children were often offered in baptism, by their believing masters or mistresses. They were encouraged to marry and rear families. Some of these facts I get from ancient church records : some from tradition ; and some from statements which I heard, when young, made by owners of slaves, or by those who were bred up in families with them. In some of these records of baptisms and marriages, the names of the negro children and the names of their masters and mistresses who offered them in Baptism, are given ; and the names of their masters and their consent to the marriage, are given."

The negro was bought and sold without the dignity of a record of the event on the town books. He passed with the delivery of a bill of sale, which was con- sidered sufficient evidence of the new ownership.

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The following is a copy of a document that is preserved in the Oliver Rice homestead :

"Bond to fulfill Indenture

I the subscriber Silas St John of Sharon do Promise and oblige myself and heirs to fullfill in every particular a certain Indenture Dated Sept. 21 1758 whereby George Trashen a Malato Boy is Bound to Ezekiel Rice Esqr Late of Wallingford Deceased and to his Heirs the said servent falling into my hands by Heirship and other Contracts, I stand Obliged & bound to fulfill to said servent

Know all men by these presents that I Joseph thailer of haddam in the County of Thartford in the Colony of concrecut in new England to acknowledge my self in plain and open market for and in consideration of the come of one hundred and sixty point to have sold and set over unto dec. Benjamin Rays of walling ford in New haven County one negro girl age about these years to be the Benjamin Rouges Slave and servant and to fis hers and asigns during the full term of her natural life a vouching my self to be the proper and sole owner of the I? negro girl und have a Right to Dispose of the s. negro give during the term of hernational life further I do here by find my self and Steins to defend and warant the sd negro girl violet to the Roys his heirs on a signs against the law ful Claime of all persons what soever as withers here of The reunto have set my hand and seal this 20th if Reprit of 1750 versmich pratt Daniel Hout

BILL OF SALE OF SLAVE GIRL.

when he arives to the Age of freedom all the perticulers mentioned in said In- denture and Indemnify all the Heirs of the estate from any burden or charge from that quarter, in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand the 3rd day of March 1767

Silas St John"

Ezekiel Rice Ezra Rice Esther Blakslee"

The above is a fac-simile of a bill of sale preserved in a Meriden household.

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EARLY HISTORY.

The following appears in Dr. Davis' history :

"Middletown July 8, 1760

Received of Abel Curtis (of Meriden) Forty Pounds In full of a negro Boy Called Ben, about nine years old, which sd Negro Boy I Promis to warrant and Defend against all Lawful Claims & demands of any Person whatsoever as wit- ness my hand.

George Phillips"

The laws of the colony relating to slaves were very strict. Granted the ex- istence of slavery, such laws are absolutely necessary for the preservation of the institution, for a slave is a species of property that can steal itself.

"No negro, mulatto or Indian servant" could go from one town to another with- out a ticket or pass in "writing under the hand of a Magistrate or the owner of the slave." If the slave could not show such ticket on demand he or she was treated as a runaway and was seized and returned to the owner. No slave was allowed to be absent from home after nine o'clock at night without a special order from the master or mistress. No free negro was allowed to travel without he or she had a certificate testifying to such condition of freedom.1 The state of the poor negro slave was certainly not an enviable one.

And yet notwithstanding these various laws and restrictions they were treated with much kindness and consideration. It was not an uncommon act for a master to embody a clause in his will making his slaves free, and even distribut- ing a certain amount of the estate for the support of the slave or freedman. Capt. Titus Brockett, of Wallingford, who died in 1773; by the terms of his will, gave his slaves, Esau and Grace, their freedom after the death of his widow, and the widow, Mary, at her death in 1777, left for the support of the dusky couple the use of her homestead so long as they should live, together with cows, household furni- ture and farming utensils.

The Rev. Samuel Hall, of Cheshire, who died in 1776, willed his negro slave. Charles, to his widow to wait on her as long as she should live and when she should die Charles was to choose which son he would live with and if not able to earn his living, some of the parson's property was to be used for his support.

Capt. John Webb, who died in 1799, left to his servants, Daffy and Joe, whom he had previously emancipated, a considerable amount of property for their sup- port. Joe and Daffy Prinn afterwards lived in a house on Paddock avenue on the east side of the street a number of hundred feet south of the turnpike. A slight depression by the roadside filled with stones still marks the site of the old house. The son of Joe and Daffy, Robin, married the daughter of Chatham Free- man and after the latter's death, he and his wife lived in Freeman's old house, near

1 Acts & Laws of His Majesty's Colony of Conn. Ed. 1769.

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the entrance to Mr. Murdock's driveway. A son of Chatham Freeman, Lemon, lived in a house that formerly stood near the north end of Swayne avenue. Lemon's son Richard died in this house some fifteen years ago. There are still many peo- ple who can remember Robin Prinn, who was once in great demand on many occasions, for he and his violin were famous the country round.

But, notwithstanding the general kindness with which the negro slave was treated, he yearned for freedom and once in a while took French leave and set out for "fresh woods and pastures new." It must have been difficult for the fugitive to get away to any distance, and even if he gained the shelter of another colony he was again liable to be impressed into new service and virtually kidnapped. As soon as the master was aware that his servant had run away he hastened to the nearest town where a newspaper was published, and inserted an advertisement. One of the earliest of these notices inserted by a Wallingford man appears in the Con- necticut Gazette under date of Oct. 21, 1758, and reads as follows :

"Run away from Nathaniel Curtis of Wallingford 3 weeks ago a negro man named Jack aged about 23 or 24 years mark'd with the small-pox, a middling stature strong and well set, can read and talk good English. He had on a blue home-spun cloth coat. Whoever will bring home the said negro & secure him and give notice to the subscriber so that he may get him again shall be handsomely rewarded besides all necessary charges paid by

"Wallingford Oct 6 1758"

Nathaniel Curtis"

In the Connecticut Journal of Nov. 5, 1777, is the following :

"Twenty dollars reward. Run away from the Subscriber of Wallingford on the night after the 27th instant a Mulatto Boy, named Adam about 20 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches high. well made except his right leg crooking in, talks good English, and can write and read and its probable may have forged a pass : had on and with him when he went away a beaver and felt hat, 2 checkt shirts, one woolen, the other linen, two pair shoes, A Rifle Frock, a brown homespun vest, and an old red Duffil Great Coat. Whoever will return said boy to the Sub- scriber, shall be entitled to the above Reward and all necessary charges paid by

Elihu Hall"

"Wallingford Oct 28 1777"

As already noted, Parson Hall had five slaves, and a story has come down to the present day, which is without much doubt, based on fact. In the days when the parish still worshipped in the little church on Meeting House hill, the parson was the owner of a slave who was surly and unruly and whom it was sometimes necessary to chastise. One Sunday morning the parson was obliged to whip this negro, and then went to his duties at the church. Some one saw what looked like

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a fire at Mr. Hall's house which could be easily seen from the church. So the congregation hastily adjourned and on reaching the house found that the surly negro had set fire to a hay rick closely adjoining it. For a time it looked as if the house would be destroyed but by hard work it was saved. A short time after, this negro climbed into a chestnut tree in the southern part of the farm, and falling, broke his neck.1

In the Connecticut Journal for April 22, 1774, we read that "Last Wednesday Lemon, a negro slave (owned by Mr John Ives of Wallingford) was brought to Gaol in New Haven for abusing an Indian Girl." On the following week "the boy was sentenced to sit on the Gallows with a rope about his neck one hour, and to be whipt 39 Stripes at a Cart's Tail. Which sentence was immediately ex- ecuted."

David Cook, a man of affairs of Wallingford, who has been mentioned as a shipowner and doing a business of importing negroes to be sold as slaves, at one time got into serious difficulty with the Colonial government, through the action of his son, Phinehas, in kidnapping a swarthy white man and selling him as a negro slave. Phinehas was a sea captain and commanded one of his father's ves- sels. This swarthy man was a Portuguese and his story told in his own words, reads like a romance, and it would be impossible to improve by either cutting out or adding to it; so it is given as he told it to the General Assembly on February 9, 1757:

"The Memorial of Joseph Deming (otherwise called Joseph De Mink) now residing at Goshen in the county of Litchfield Humbly Sheweth-That your Mem- orialist was a free born Subject of the King of Portugal, a Native and an Inhabitant of the Island of Brava in the Indies one of the Cape De Verde Islands where your memorialist's Parents not Long Since were, and he hopes are yet Living. That sometime in the month of March A. D. 1755 by Leave of his Father he went to the Island of Bonavista one of the Cape de Verde Islands under the Dominion of the sd King of Portugal, but a few Leagues Distance from yr Memolsts Native Island. That after some Short Stay at said Island of Bonavista your memorialist was Seeking an Opportunity to return home, and falling in Company with one Mr Phinehas Cook, then Master of a Vessel lying at Anchor at said Island of Bonavista (who belonged to Wallingford in the sd Colony of Connecticut) & he enformed your Memorialist that he was bound to Barbadoes, and in his Way should put in to sª Island of Brava, where your memorialist was going and would freely give your memorialist a Passage home to his Parents. That when the said Cook was ready to Sail your Memorialist took Leave of his Friends and went on Board sª Vessel, and within a Short Space arrived in Sight of said Island and Expected to be put on Shore, but to your memorialists amazement, the sª Cooke Steered off

1 This story was told to the writer by Willard Hall and his sister, Mrs. Gallup.

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and soon after arrived at Barbadoes, and there kept your Memorialist Confined & would not Suffer him to goe on Shore, and in a few Days afterwards sailed for New England. That after our Arrival at New England your memorialist was Delivered up to Mr David Cook of sd Wallingford, owner of said Vessell and Father and Employer of the sd Phinehas Cook who together with the said Phine- has immediately proclaimed that yr memolst was a Negro being lately brot from someparts of Guinea, and presently sold your memorialist to Mr Noah Waddams of Goshen aforesaid for a New Negro and as a Slave for Life, for the price of Fifty-two pounds ten shillings Lawful mony, with whom your memorialist has. ever since Lived and Served and from whom much kindness and pitty has been Shewn. That the sd Mr Waddams haveing been Long since Satisfied that your memorialist is no negro nor any Thing resembling, a Native of Guinea, saveing in his Tawny and dark Complexion which is but Common to the Portuguese Na- tion Especially in the Southern Plantations and being also satisfied that your memorialist was very wrongfully taken away from his Native Country and Friends and greatly grieving to retain him as a Slave while Convinced of the Fraud and Injury done him. He the sd Mr Waddams did sometime in the beginning of this month of February attempt to relieve your Memorialist and to that End bro't his action against the sd David Cooke, for Selling your Memorialist being a free man, as a Slave &c. That the said Cooke being Served with the Process immediately Compounded with the said Mr. Waddams, and Obliged the said Waddams to re- turn your memolst back to him, the Consequences whereof your memorialist greatly dreads, and has now reason to expect soon to be disposed of in some parts. remote where he can have no relief.

Your Distressed Memorialist therefore begs the Speedy aid and interposal of this Honorble Assembly that your Hon's would commiserate him as a poor youth seperated from all his former Friends helpless in himself and Exposed to the Rapine conceived by ye said Cooke. That your Honours would give me Leave to appear in yr Presence, and to Convince your honors by Countenance, by my Education by my proficiency in reading and writing of the Portuguese Languages. and by other Evidence. That I am no Slave or Native of Guinea.

And that your Honours would Vouchsafe me the same Protection that a Sub- ject of the King of Great Brittain could reasonably Expect from the King of Portugal, or from any of his Government with whom there has been, and with whom there hopefully may be Subsisting the most Lasting Friendship. And that yr Honours would at Least appoint me a Refuge where to fly and a Guardian to undertake In my Defence, till it be Decided whether I am a free man or not or otherwise relieve your Memorialist and as in Duty bound ever prays.1

Thos Seymour Junr Prochein Ami To the Memorialist"

1 Vol. 11., Miscellaneous Documents, No. 88, State Library.

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As a result of this petition the General Assembly decided that De Mink was a freeman and a subject of the King of Portugal, and was brought to this country against his will, and David Cook was ordered to pay to De Mink £30 damages and £4 to pay his passage back to the Cape de Verde Island. Cook was also fined £20 and costs, and Capt. Thomas Seymour, of Hartford, was appointed guardian to De Mink to assist him in procuring passage to his native country.

Let us hope that he got safely back to his family and friends. No matter how generously a slave was treated by his master the institution was an iniquitous one and such a story as that of De Mink must have made many realize what a blight on civilization it was to hold in bondage one's fellow man even if the color of his skin was black. It is only just to David Cook to say that De Mink's story was not believed in Wallingford.

The first public condemnation of the sin of slavery made in Wallingford seems to have been contained in a sermon delivered by Rev. Samuel Andrews preached on a day of General Fast July 10, 1775. Mr. Andrews was the minister of the Epis- copal church there and a pronounced Tory in his views. Speaking of one of the vices of the people in which there should be reform, he said, "And here, as we profess to be now contending for those liberties which God and nature have given us : and in common with us, to all the human race : is it not worth our serious con- sideration, whether our detaining in captivity, a part of our fellow creatures, can be reconciled with our principles of liberty, and if not, to examine whether it is not necessary, either to change our principles, or let the oppressed go free : for how can we expect God will work that deliverance for us, which we refuse to give to others?"

The Declaration of Independence, and the circulation among the people of the general ideas and principles of civil liberty soon made many realize the absurdity of keeping the black man in servitude. The feeling against the traffic in slaves had become so strong that at the October session of the General Assembly 1774 it was enacted that whoever "shall import or bring any indian negro or molatto slave or slaves into this Colony to be disposed of" "shall forfeit and pay to the Treasurer of this Colony the sum of one hundred pounds," and the State Assembly at the October session 1777 enacted "That if any owner of any slave shall apply to the selectmen of the town to which he belongs for liberty to emancipate such slave it shall be the duty of such selectmen to enquire into the age abilities etc of such slave, and if they are of the opinion that it is likely to be consistent with the real advantage of such slave, and that it is probable that the slave will be able to sup- port his or her own person etc: such selectmen shall give to the owner of such slave a certificate, and that the owner of such slave hath liberty to emancipate such slave."

This was a decided step towards the gradual emancipation of all slaves. And the result was that the town books now began to bear records of slave transactions

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for the first time; but instead of being transfers of the negro as a chattel, they were the blessed harbingers of the complete freedom of the negro race in Con- necticut.

The Wallingford books contain many entries of the emancipation of negro slaves under the new law.

On Sept. 24, 1778, "I Rachel Johnson for divers good reasons and causes but more especially because I believe all mankind should be free I do hereby manumit my servant maid Dolly who is about 8 years of age, that is I do make her free from all bonds that she is under to me when she shall be 18 years of age."

Dec. 7, 1778, "I Ruth Merriam emancipate my woman servant Rhoda."

Aug. 19, 1778, John Hough emancipated his man servant, Cuff, and woman Kate.

May 29, 1780, Gould Gift Norton and wife, administrators of the estate of Dr. Amos Hall, emancipated negro servant Ishmael.

Nov. 26, 1780, Martha Doolittle emancipated servant Rose.

Dec. 18, 1780, Miles Johnson emancipated Phillis.

March 1, 1781, Ruth Merriam emancipated Lilly.

Mar. 26, 1781, Jno. Barker emancipated Jubie and Peter.

Jan. 10, 1782, Dr. Jared Potter emancipated Jack.

Feb. 19, 1782, Samuel Street emancipated Cuff.

June 21, 1782, Elisha Brockett emancipated Nancy.

Jan. 20, 1795, Turhand Kirtland emancipated his negro Isaac.

Aug. 6, 1795, Edward Barker emancipated Cato Warner.

Dec. 17, 1798, Abner Rice emancipated negro woman Violet.

Oct. 12, 1786, Thomas Hall made an agreement with his negro servant Cato that if in the opinion of his neighbors, David Hall, Jacob Francis and Edward Fenn, at the end of three years, he had faithfully served his master during all the interval, he would emancipate him. At the end of the three years the neighbors duly certified that in their opinion Cato had faithfully carried out his part of the contract and he was duly made free.

But death was the only emancipator of many of these faithful old servants.

The pace of the state, however, was steadily towards the freedom of the slave and in 1784 it was enacted that,

"Whereas sound public policy requires that the abolition of slavery should be effected, as soon as may be consistent with the rights of individuals and the public safety and welfare," "no negro or mulatto, born after Mar. 1, 1784, should be held as a slave after reaching the age of twenty-five."1

The holding of slaves was not absolutely forbidden in Connecticut until 1848.1 In the year 1833 there was founded the New Haven Anti-Slavery Society and a

1 Steiner's History of Slavery in Conn. Johns Hopkins University Studies pp. 30-31.

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missionary movement was started which caused a rapid growth of Abolition sen- timent all over the state.

In the year 1836 a like society was started in this town called the Meriden Anti-Slavery Society. Its constitution stated that it was auxiliary to the American Anti-Slavery Society. It no doubt aroused a considerable local sentiment and II9 names constituted its roll of members. The leaders of the movement were evidently Walter Webb, Harlow Isbell, Fenner Bush, Zina K. Murdock, Julius Pratt, Homer Curtiss, Major Elisha A. Cowles and their wives. Mr. Curtiss had Mr. Isbell were ardent members of this society and labored earnestly in its behalf. The former was engaged to a considerable extent in the so-called "underground railroad" movement and his son, Homer A. Curtiss, remembers as a boy the mid- night visits of fugitive slaves, on their way to Canada or others havens of security, requesting either a hiding place or assistance to continue their journey.

At one time two colored men named Eldridge and Jones came north as jockeys and grooms to the two famous racing horses Phantom and Fashion. On reaching Philadelphia these men were told by the Quakers that they were free under the law. They, accordingly, escaped from their masters and made their way to Mer- iden, and Mr. Curtiss gave them employment in his lock shop situated where the factories of Bradley & Hubbard Mfg. Co. are now located. Their owners later ascertained that the ex-slaves were in Meriden and wrote to the sheriff offering him a reward if he would kidnap and return them. The sheriff took the letter to Rev. Mr. Perkins who wrote them that under no circumstances would they be allowed to regain possession of the men. Soon after, one of the owners appeared in person and demanded of Mr. Curtiss that he give up the men, and blustering and threatening the intervention of the U. S. government. Mr. Curtiss was not frightened and ordered the man from his premises. No further effort was made to take the runaways but for a long time they were very timid and scarcely dared to go on the streets. They lived here many years.

Mr. Isbell was so carried away by the abolition movement that he removed to Kansas to assist in the attempt to make it a free state.

In the fall of 1837 a Rev. Mr. Ludlow was requested to deliver a lecture in the church now called the Center Congregational church, on the subject of slavery. The meeting was broken up by a mob: ancient eggs and a miscellaneous assort- ment of articles were thrown at those attending the lecture, until as one man who was a participant expressed it, "they looked like a lot of pumpkin pies." Blows were struck and altogether a most disgraceful attack was made on those who were laboring for the good of a down-trodden race. A full account of this riot will be found in Dr. Davis' History, p. 502

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CHAPTER XV.

When Wallingford was a frontier town of three or four hundred inhabitants and New England was almost an unbroken wilderness, when a journey from Hartford to New Haven was an event to be contemplated with concern, and the forests were the abode of wild beasts and savage Indians, it is not surprising that imagination should have been active in conjuring unknown terrors and that the belief in witches, which from time immemorial had been the common heritage of the people of all lands, should have been particularly prevalent in the towns of New England.

It is difficult in this age of wide education and altruism to understand this su- perstition, and still harder to realize that Wallingford had its acute attack of this mental phenomenon. Hardly any one is acquainted with the facts in the case; indeed, the occurrence is barely mentioned in the "History of Wallingford and Meriden," and even then the name of the accused family is given as Denham.

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An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 23

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co. Number of Pages: 1252

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252