NEGRO SLAVERY IN OLD DEERFIELD. 59
natural life of the sd Jromanoo, and I do hereby covenant, Promise
and agree, that before the ensealing hereof, I am the Rightful and Lawful owner
of the sd slave, and have good and Lawful Right to sell and Dispose of him in
manner as aforesaid, and that I will by these presents, for myself & my
hiers Execrs & Admrs shall always be held to warrant
and secure the sd Negro from this Day, During his Natural Life as aforesaid
as the sole property of the sd Ephraim, his hiers & assigns, to his and
their use & Behoof, against the claim and chalange of any other person,
and all Rightful Pretentions of his own, to Freedom, by any Law or right whatsoever.
Witness my hand & seal this thirteenth day of February Anno Domini 1755
Signed Sealed & delivered in presence of
Joseph Dwight
Abner [Tonsilis]
John Charles Jr."
seal
In this document there is no disguise. A spade is called a spade, and the doctrine
that all acted upon here stands writ in black and white, that the Negro can
make no just claim to owning his own body "by any Law or Right whatever."
General and Judge Dwight, the witness, was for many years one of New England’s
leading men, in military and civil life.
What became of Romanoo we know not, but probably his value went to swell the
funds for founding that college which refused admission to the son of Abijah
and Lucy Prince. At the time Maj. Williams bought this man, who was warranted
to have no Legal or Moral right to his own flesh, blood or brain, he himself
was preparing to offer his own body and his own life for the services of his
country. Seven months later he fell at the head of his regiment in the Bloody
Morning Scout, Sept. 8, 1755, leaving his estate to found Williams College.
No information can be added to that given in the following, extracted from
the Docket Book of Judge Williams, save that Hartford got off with such credit
that he had a running account with John Russell, at his store, in 1762. In this
case it appears that the master is held responsible for the act of the slave,
whatever that act may have been :
"Hampshire S.S. At a Court held in Deerfield Nov. 20, 1761
Before me Thomas Williams Esq. Elijah Williams Esq. Plaintiff & Hartford
a Negro man slave to Thomas Dickinson of Deerfield aforesaid Yeoman, Defendt.Upon
considering ye proof made out against sd Negro recògnize
his sd master for his appearance at Court
Att. Thomas Williams.
Thomas Dickinson, who was the father of "Uncle Sid," lived where
Charles Jones lives and Judge Williams, the next door south.
In the church record we read :
"Dec. 15, 1782 baptised Patience, Negro Servant to Mrs.
Silliman by Mr. Parsons of Amherst."
"Aug. 27, 1786 Baptised by Mr. Parsons Lemuel, servant
to Mrs. Silliman."
"Married Oct. 23, 1794 Chloe Silliman and Noble Spencer."
This Chloe was for a long time a faithful and trusted servant to Mrs. Silliman,
who was twelfth child and sixth daughter of Parson John Williams. By will at
her death in 1783, Mrs. Silliman gave Chloe her freedom, and to set her up in
housekeeping gave her "a Bible, a cow, a feather bed, a brass kettle, a
pot, 2 tramels, chests, hand irons, chairs, and pewter things." To Jockton,
a Mulatto of Col. Hinsdale," — her first husband then twenty years dead,
— she gave the avails of one hundred acres of land in New Hampshire.
"Boston" and "Town," of whom I hear nothing else, had store
accounts in 1761. Slavery in the Connecticut Valley was indeed a peculiar institution.
It was in the mildest form in which one man can own the body of another. The
slaves became in a measure members of the family holding them. They worked with
the father and boys in field and forest, and in the kitchen and spinning room
with the mother and daughters. Labor was respected. It was not only a disgrace
to be idle, but it was against the law of the land. But while uniting in labor,
there was no social equality ; while the whole family made the kitchen the centre
of home life, the slave had his own table and his own corner. Separate seats
were provided for negroes in the meeting-house. I hear of no dissatisfaction
with this arrangement. It seems to have been accepted on both sides as a natural
one. Even Lucy Prince, when visiting Deerfield in her old age, being invited
to take a seat at table with the |
Send an e-Postcard of this object
