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11

Feb. 11 1752 Sent to my Honoured Mother

Abigail Ashley 7lb of flax

W

d

 

& 6 lb & 11 oz of wool

6 -

2

 

 
4 -
2
 
Childs Asa Debtor
Days work of Titus Dunging in holes for planting
0
15
0
Days work of Cato reaping oats
Days work Titus picking Corn
Days work Titus thrashing
½ a day of Titus mending fence little meadow
1 days work Cato about Hay
Days work Cato picking Corn
½ a day Cato Husking
2 days Titus mowing
1 days work picking Corn & taking up flax
½ days work of thrashing 27 of oct.
2 days going into yd woods to mend roads
Janry 2 days thrashings
Feb 4 days thrashing
 
April 2 1754 Reconed with Asa Childs& he owed me
for 5 Days work excepting 8s old tenor he paid
towards it — to 1 day work more of Titus
he plowed 1 acre of land Ballanced
 
Childs Widow Rhodah Debtor July 2 1757
O
T
to Titus a days Mowing
1
0
0
Sept to Titus mowing a day
paid by her Sons work
 
 
1752 april
John Shelden Debtor to 2 days work Cato driving
Nov. titus & Cato 4 days clearing land
 
1756 Childs Timothy Ensign Debtor
To paying Lieut Hoit for going to Fullers
Judging the Value of the Land I bought of him
0
15
0
1757 Feb 10 a Yoke of Cattle a day
0
10
0
April to Titus a Days work
0
15
0
to ½ Bushel of Wheat
0
17
6
1758 Janry to Titus thrashing Corn a day
0
15
0
to Abijah Prince thrashing Rye a Day
0
15
0
 
4
07
6
 
May 6 1762 Reconed with Ensign
Timothy Child & due to me nine
pounds three Shillings & four pence
for which I look an order on Deacon
Noah Wright
 
Credit for 2lb of Tea to a Days reaping - 22s 6d to work at falls
about Hay 7/6 to rent of 2 acres & ½ of Land
7
10
0
 
5
0
0
 
7
6
 
1
2
6
 
14
0
0
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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label levels:

There is currently no available "Beginner" label. The following is the default level label: Slavery was well established throughout Britain's North American colonies by the 1700's. Enslaved African Americans made up about four percent of the total population of New England. The society, economy, and landscape of the northern colonies could not support the plantation system of the South and the sugar islands of the West Indies. New England's slaves were most concentrated in the coastal cities but many lived in inland towns and rural areas as well. When the Reverend Jonathan Ashley (1712-1780) was keeping his account book, the rural town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, had a population of over two dozen enslaved residents. Jonathan Ashley owned three slaves- Jenny, Titus, and Cato. These pages from his account book record the amount and sort of work Titus and Cato performed for Ashley's various trading partners in the 1750's. It might seem surprising that a minister would own slaves but this was an accepted and common practice in the 18th century among clergy, lawyers and other professional men. Samuel Sewall, who served as a member of Governor's Council in Massachusetts from 1691-1725, wrote that African Americans were "poor silly wretches" who could "seldom use their freedom well". Many whites viewed them as being eternal children in need of care and guidance from European Americans. What better owners than ministers who could also ensure the salvation of their slaves' souls by Christianizing them?

 

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Pages from Rev. Jonathan Ashley's account book

creator   Reverend Jonathan Ashley (1712-1780)
date   1752-1759
location   Deerfield, Massachusetts
height   15.0"
width   6.0"
process/materials   manuscript, paper, ink
item type   Personal Documents/Account book
accession #   #L00.044


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See Also...

Pages from Elijah Williams (Old Soldier's) account book, Vol. 2

"Negro Slavery in Old Deerfield"

Complaint against slave Caesar for stealing


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