11

Feb. 11 1752 Sent to my Honoured Mother

Abigail Ashley 7^lbof 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 y^dwoods 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 2^lbof Tea to a Days reaping - 22s 6^d 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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