Slavery in Jamaica Plain
Key Points
· For millennia, Indigenous people lived in reciprocity with the land now called New England.
· New England colonists adopted slavery as the primary economic driver to build their colonies
· Slavery in New England started with enslaving Indigenous people in the 1500s and expanded to enslaving Africans in the 1600s and 1700s
· Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery in 1641
· Chattel slavery existed in Massachusetts during the American Revolution
· Revolutionary War patriots enslaved and indentured others in Massachusetts
· Enslaved people filed petitions and court cases which resulted in changing Massachusetts law in 1783 but did not result in immediate emancipation for all
· Jamaica Plain was part of all of this history and at least 27 people were enslaved here.
Hidden Jamaica Plain held an event in January 2024 and we invite you to watch the video: https://www.jphs.org/colonial-era/slaveryinjpeventvideo
I. Slavery in New England
Introduction
Many Americans were taught in school that slavery in the United States was an exclusively Southern institution. But in colonial times, the system of slavery was also the primary economic driver in the Northern colonies including New England. Because colonists chose to grow their economy using enslaved labor, it was the standard practice of many New Englanders to enslave other human beings – both Indigenous and African people.[1]
New Englanders ran the Triangle Trade, enslaving, buying, and selling people. Slavery was also integral to most of the region’s commerce as New Englanders sold food and supplies to the one-crop sugar economies of the Caribbean. New England’s slave economy was connected not only to the wealthy but also to farmers, craftsmen, ministers, and widows as well as to industries such as shipbuilding, distilling, and leather tanning.
Were people enslaved in Jamaica Plain? Yes. Initial research by Hidden Jamaica Plain, a group of volunteer researchers, revealed the names of 27 people who were enslaved in the 1700s in Jamaica Plain, and further research will likely reveal more. While very little is known about most of those enslaved people, the list of their enslavers and indenturers is a virtual “who’s who” of those linked to key Jamaica Plain institutions such as the Loring Greenough House and the First Church in Jamaica Plain as well as the Arnold Arboretum and Roxbury Latin School.
Enslavement of Indigenous People Came First
For millennia, Indigenous people lived in reciprocity with the land now called New England. They lived, not in a wilderness, but in a sustaining, thriving place of villages and larger kinship and trade networks. They organized themselves into larger subgroups led by chosen leaders. They shared communal use and reciprocity with the land within established territorial boundaries. They all spoke regional dialects of the Algonquin language. They had no concept of private ownership of land or people as commodities to be bought and sold.
In Jamaica Plain, the Massachusett people were a primary presence, and Boston Archaeology has found evidence of a major trading center near Monument Square.[2] Their trading network reached to Western Massachusetts and beyond.
Europeans coming to the Americas relied upon the Doctrine of Discovery which established a religious, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians as well as enslavement of non-Christian people. Foundational elements of the Doctrine of Discovery came from a series of papal decrees beginning in the 1100s.[3]
By the early 1600s, English explorers and traders had kidnapped and enslaved coastal Indigenous people from New England to extract their labor, sometimes selling them in Europe, even before the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies were formed.[4]
Indigenous communities and infrastructure were also disrupted by plagues and diseases introduced by the English that they had not previously been exposed to. By the time the Puritans arrived in Boston in 1630, many of the thriving Indigenous settlements had already been decimated. It is estimated that between 50-90% of the Massachusett people died in the years following the 1614 mapping expedition of English sea captain and colonial leader John Smith who coined the term “New England.”[5]
The English seized areas currently or previously inhabited by Indigenous people and began to enslave Indigenous people for additional labor to build the settlement named Massachusetts Bay Colony after the people from the Massachusett nation (Massachusett in Algonquin means “near the Great Hill(s),” possibly referring to the Blue Hills south of Boston Habor).[6] As more English arrived and wanted to expand colonial territory and settlements, the colonists began buying people from Africa and the Caribbean.
Wars Against Indigenous Peoples Accelerated Enslavement and Slave Trading
The first known slave trading in Boston was during the Pequot War of 1636-8 in Connecticut. In this war, one of the colonists’ explicit goals was to procure captives. Captured Pequots were enslaved by the most important religious and political leaders in early New England, including Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop and Thomas Weld, the first minister of First Church in Roxbury. The enslaved Pequots were forced to labor in English households, iron works, fisheries, and on farms raising crops and livestock.
In the war’s aftermath, the African slave trade was launched when two captive Pequot women and 15 boys were taken on the vessel Desire in Boston to be sold into slavery in the Caribbean. The Desire then returned in 1638 with the first recorded arrival of enslaved Africans who were brought from the Caribbean to be sold in Boston. [7]
During the Indigenous war of resistance in 1675-1676 known as King Philip’s War, about 2,000 Indigenous men, women and children were enslaved, whether or not they were combatants, and whether or not they surrendered. Many were sold in Bermuda and the Caribbean.
During the late 1600s and throughout the 1700s, the colonists imposed multiple forms of involuntary servitude upon “free” Indigenous people. They could be coerced into military service or forced to indenture their children to English families. Servitude for a fixed or indefinite term could be imposed by the courts for debts, disputes with colonists, accusations of crime, and other reasons invented by the courts.
Deep Cultural Traditions and Ties Endured
It is important to remember that despite the colonists’ many destructive actions, many of the southern New England Indigenous nations survived as vibrant and organized tribes or communities, including the Wampanoag, the Nipmuc, the Massachusett, the Narragansett, the Pequot and the Mohegan. Local Indigenous-led organizations include the North American Indian Center of Boston located in Jamaica Plain, the United American Indians of New England and the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness. Today those wishing to learn more can also explore local tribal websites and the ICT News website [ictnews.org/]. Local museums focusing on Indigenous history include the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum in Mashpee, MA; the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe and Cultural Center in Aquinnah, MA; the Pequot Museum in Ledyard, CT; and the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, RI.[8]
A particularly remarkable story of cultural and historical survival involves the hundreds of enslaved Indigenous people sold and sent from Boston to the British colony of Bermuda in the 1600’s in the aftermath of the Pequot War and King Phillip’s War. They ended up living and working on St. David’s Island in Bermuda where many of their descendants still live today. For centuries, the generations passed on their stories and traditions. In the late 20th century, descendants in St. David’s Island and Wampanoag and Pequot people in New England began to actively search for and connect with one another. In 2002, 40 New England Wampanoag, Pequot and Narragansett people traveled to St. David’s Island to embrace their long-lost relatives in days of celebration, ceremony, and cultural exchange. Ever since, they have continued to deepen their connections, traveling annually to participate in each other’s Powwows.
Massachusetts: The First Colony to Legalize Slavery
In the 1600s, most of the people enslaved by the English in Massachusetts were Indigenous.2 Massachusetts was the first of the 13 colonies to legally sanction slavery in 1641, in significant part to define the legal status of the hundreds of Pequot captives. That law remained in effect for over 100 years.
During the colonial era, the colonists passed numerous laws regulating movement and marriage among enslaved people.[9] Additional laws restricted marriage and interracial relationships with free people. Between 1690 and 1720 colonial laws regulated the leisure time of both enslaved Indigenous and African people, categorized them as property for tax purposes, and shunted them to a different legal system for certain crimes.4 Despite all these restrictions, Indigenous and African people created families and fostered strong communities and social connections.[10]
Massachusetts colonial residents actively participated in and profited from the slave trade. From 1638, over the next 150 years, an estimated 175 transatlantic enslaving voyages originated in Boston, and over 1,000 ads in local newspapers advertised the sale of Africans brought back to Boston.[11] Soon the growing number of enslaved Africans outnumbered the population of enslaved and indentured Indigenous people.
Historians estimate that between 1755 and 1764, the enslaved population for the entire state of Massachusetts was approximately 2.2 percent of the total population but was generally much more concentrated in the industrial and coastal towns. Some sources estimate that 10% of Boston’s population were enslaved, and Boston Archaeology’s Faneuil Hall exhibit states that 25% of Boston households – one in four – enslaved people.[12]
II. Slavery in Jamaica Plain
In the 1700s, Jamaica Plain was part of the town of Roxbury. The Roxbury 1771 tax records list a total of 2,275 taxpayers with 248 – nearly 11% – listed as owners of “servants for life” [enslaved people were commonly referred to as “servants”].[13] Because the town categorized enslaved people as taxable property, enslavers hid them from census takers, so it is probable that the actual number was higher.[14] In 2023, Hidden Jamaica Plain identified 27 people who were enslaved in Jamaica Plain from the 1750s through the 1780s.
Jamaica Plain of the 1700s was rural, consisting primarily of individual farms, so young single males were preferred as enslaved farmhands. Often they were the only enslaved person on the farm. In nearby Brookline, it is estimated that in nearly one-third of the households in which people were enslaved, there was a single enslaved person.[15]
By contrast, the owners of the large country estates surrounding Jamaica Pond often enslaved several people who accompanied the wealthy when they traveled from their city residences in downtown Boston. For example, Sir Francis Bernard, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts in the 1760s, owned a 60-acre estate that faced south on Pond Street.[16] We know of at least two people who were enslaved by Bernard.[17] Upon his return to England, he rented his estate to Sir William Pepperrell who was known to have enslaved twenty people at any one time in his multiple homes.[18] The 1771 tax records list Pepperrell as the “Servant Owner” of three “Servants for Life” [enslaved people] in Jamaica Plain.[19] Ties to slavery continued after the estate was confiscated during the Revolution and sold for 19,000 pounds at auction in 1779 to Martin Brimmer. Brimmer was a merchant who made his money investing in privateer ships and trafficking in South Carolina rice and Suriname molasses, both produced with enslaved labor.[20],[21],[22]
The American Revolution and Slavery in Jamaica Plain
In Massachusetts, chattel slavery co-existed with the fight for liberty and the establishment of the first U.S. republic in the 1770s and 1780s. It was common for Revolutionary War patriots such as Jamaica Plain’s John Hancock, Eleazer Weld and David Stoddard Greenough to support the fight for American independence and simultaneously enslave and indenture others.[23] Throughout the American Revolution and even after its victory, slavery continued to exist in Massachusetts. One particularly tragic example is of the three Brookline enslaved men – “Esq. Gardner’s Adam, Esq. White’s Peter and Esq. Boylston’s Prince” – who fought at the Battle of Lexington in a war for liberty but still were not freed after their war service.[24]
Enslaved people, both before and after the Revolution, filed many petitions to the Massachusetts legislature as well as lawsuits to win their freedom. Finally, a series of court cases known as the Quock Walker case laid the basis for emancipation in 1783.[25] Even after “judicial emancipation,” enslaved people were required to liberate themselves. From 1783 on, if an enslaved person sued for freedom, they would obtain it. Simply leaving bondage worked as well since enslavers no longer had a legal mechanism to recover formerly enslaved people.[26]
At least two families of free Black Americans – the Bridghams and the Giles – along with several other individuals are noted in the early 1800s death records of First Church in Jamaica Plain which was founded in 1773. In addition, Peter Bridgham and his household appear in the 1790 Federal census.
By the mid-1780s, it appears that many former enslavers had turned to “indentures” for labor. When the colonies were first established, poor Europeans signed indenture contracts to pay off their ship passages by laboring for a set period of time. However, in the 1700s indenturing evolved into a labor system that forced poor African, Indigenous, and White children, children of unwed mothers, and orphans to serve as servants or apprentices. Indenturing was encouraged by local towns to avoid the responsibility of paying to support orphaned and poor children. In return for room and board, these children were forced to provide unpaid labor to their indenturers. The average term of service was just over ten years, with indenture usually ending at age 21 for boys and 18 for girls. Indentures were also used to press poor adults – African, Indigenous, and White – into service. Hidden Jamaica Plain will publish a separate article on indentures on the Jamaica Plain Historical Society website.
Jamaica Plain Freedom Seekers
Ads seeking the return of enslaved and indentured people who resisted by running away provide a window into the lives of some of those who endured bondage in Jamaica Plain. Separate related articles appear on the Jamaica Plain Historical Society website.
We know of at least four people enslaved in Jamaica Plain who ran away, seeking their freedom.
Prince
“Ran away from the Subscriber, of Roxbury, on Monday Morning the 30th of January last, a Negro Man Servant named Prince, about 18 Years of Age and Five Feet high, well built, except small Legs; with one of his upper Fore Teeth broke nigh half way to his Gum, and a large Scar on his Belly occasioned by a Scald; talks good English: – He carried off with him a blue Broadcloth Coat and Waistcoat, with plain yellow Metal Buttons, a double-breasted striped Flannel Jacket, and a plain brown ditto, two Piar Leather Breeches, one Pair of white Yarn Stockings, one Pair of blue ditto, two Pair of Shoes, one of said Pair with Shoestrings, two striped Woollen Shirts, and a Felt Hat.
Prince enslaved by Eleazer Weld - The Boston Evening Post - March 6, 1769
“Whover shall take up said Servant and bring him to me the Subscriber at Roxbury, or confine him, and notify the same, so that his Master can have him, shall have FOUR DOLLARS Reward, and all necessary Charges paid by me.” – Roxbury, Feb. 1st, 1769 Eleazer Weld
In 1769, two Boston papers ran ads in both February and March for “a Negro Man Servant named Prince, about 18 Years of Age” signed by Eleazer Weld.[27] Weld would later fight in the Revolutionary War, be a founder of the First Church in Jamaica Plain, and serve as a Selectman of Roxbury. He was also an enslaver.
We cannot say definitively what enslaved persons’ lives were like, but we can pose questions. The ad describes Prince physically and notes that he “talks good English.”
A possible insight into Prince’s life as an enslaved person might be gleaned from the description of “a large Scar on his Belly occasioned by a Scald.” How was Prince scalded? Was he assigned to dangerous work with hot liquids as a child? Similarly, one of Prince’s front teeth was broken “nigh halfway to his Gum.” How did that event occur and what, if any, attention did he receive for injuries that were likely painful?
The ad’s focus on Prince’s clothing is typical of runaway ads of the time. Clothes were difficult to discard or replace in a pre-industrial world so the exactness of their description was aimed at finding and reclaiming Prince.[28]
Eleazer Weld offered a four-dollar reward for the return of Prince. It is worth noting that Weld was so eager to get his “property” back that he placed the ad three times over a period of two months.
The unanswered question: Did Prince’s escape succeed?
Leath
“Ran-away in the Night of the 19th of May, from the Subscriber living in Dunstable, a Negro Man, named Leath, about 22 Years of Age, 5 Feet 7 Inches high: He is of a very modest Look. – Had on when he went away, a blue Coat with yellow brass Buttons, black Jacket and Breeches. Whover apprehends said Negro, and returns him to the Subscriber (or to Mrs. Martin on Jamaica Plains to whom he belongs) shall have SIX DOLLARS Reward, and all necessary Charges paid by Archibald Robertson.”[29]
Leath enslaved by Mrs Martin - Boston News Letter published as The Massachusetts Gazette and The Boston Weekly News Letter May 30, 1771
On both May 30 and June 5, 1771, a Boston newspaper ran an ad for “a Negro Man, named Leath” placed by Archibald Robertson, a British engineering officer whose later diaries and sketches captured scenes of the American Revolution.[30] Leath was presumably on loan or rented out by “Mrs. Martin on Jamaica Plains to whom he belongs.”
It was quite common for widows to enslave men to help with farm work and heavy chores. Ministers were another group that often enslaved others to farm and care for them and their families while they focused on religious matters. For example, the Second Parish of Roxbury’s first two ministers – Rev. Ebenezer Thayer and Rev. Nathaniel Walter – were both enslavers.[31],[32] In the early 1700s, the church was located on Walter Street near the burial ground at the edge of the Arnold Arboretum.
Did Leath succeed in his escape?
Sarah
“TEN DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the Subscriber, a Negro Woman named Sarah, she is a short Black wench about 30 years old, she is supposed to be harboured by some free negro in Boston; any person that will take her up and send her to Gaol [jail], or to the Subscriber, shall have the above Reward and all necessary Charges.” – Timothy Penny, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury Sept. 25th 1777.[33]
Sarah enslaved by Timothy Penny - The Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser - September 25, 1777
It is quite possible that Sarah was hiding in the free African American community on the north slope of Beacon Hill in nearby Boston. By the mid-1700s, the African American population in the area around Belknap Street [now Joy Street] exceeded 1,000.[34]
The estate of Captain Timothy Penny was located near Jamaica Pond. Penny was a sugar planter from Jamaica. It is possible that Sarah and another enslaved person traveled with him when he decided to relocate to Jamaica Plain because the 1771 tax records show Penny living in Roxbury as the owner of two “Servants for Life” [enslaved people]. In 1774, Penny built a one-story house in the West Indian plantation style near today’s Orchard Street, where he and his family lived until he returned to Jamaica around 1789.[35], [36], [37],[38]
Did Sarah succeed in her escape?
Dick Morey/Welsh
“ONE DOLLAR REWARD. Ran away from the Subscriber on the morning of the 21st inst. An indented Molatto Servant by the name of Dick Welsh, about 18 years old, uncommonly large of his age; carried off with him a new broad cloth Coat; a chocolate colour’d short Coat; one fustian [twilled cloth] short coat; a drab colour’d cloth great coat almost new; one spotted velvet and several other Waistcoats; 3 pair Trowsers; 2 pair rankin Overhalls; 3 new tow [coarse linen or jute fiber] Shirts; 1 linen do. 2 round Hatts, &c. &c. Whoever will apprehend said ran away and return him to the Subscriber at Jamaica Plains (Roxbury,) shall be entitled to the above reward. – David S. Greenough, Roxbury, June 25, 1798[39]
Dick enslaved by David S Greenough - Columbian Centinel July 4, 1798
Dick Morey/Welsh was the son of an enslaved African woman named Binah and an unknown father. Dick is described in documents as “Molatto,” a term used by Whites to describe people they perceived to be of mixed race.
At the age of five, on July 30, 1785, Jamaica Plain enslaver John Morey (b. 1738) sold Dick for 5 pounds to David Stoddard Greenough, who lived on the estate at 12 South Street in Jamaica Plain, today known as the Loring Greenough House. The “Bill of Sale” clearly treated young Dick as Morey’s property, transferring him to Greenough “in the Capacity of a Servant until he shall attain to the Age of Twenty one Years.” Though born enslaved in 1780, Dick was referred to as indentured, not enslaved, and thus would be free when he attained adulthood. In the intervening 16 years he would be forced to provide unpaid labor to Greenough.[40],[41]
The next year on September 6, 1786, Greenough changed the legal basis to a formal indenture using a standard printed form which would be more legally enforceable in light of changes in Massachusetts case law stemming from the 1783 Quock Walker court case which opened the way to emancipation for enslaved people.[42] Dick Morey’s involuntary indenture was to work as a farm apprentice. Greenough had crossed out the part of the form that stated that Dick “doth voluntarily and of his own free Will and Accord, and with the Consent of his parents, bind himself to Greenough.” No mention was made of Dick’s mother Binah.[43],[44]
Dick presumably worked for Greenough in Jamaica Plain for the next twelve years. Although his indenture was to last until age 21, the ad suggests that Dick ran away three years before the end of the indenture.
The ad refers to Dick Welsh. Indentured Dick Morey, born in 1780, would have been 18 years old in 1798, the time of the ad. Hidden Jamaica Plain researchers and others believe that Dick Welsh was the adult name of Dick Morey.[45] There is no evidence that Dick’s mother Binah called herself Morey. It is also possible that Dick might have discovered the name of his father and taken his last name, rather than continuing to use the last name of his former enslaver, or that Greenough changed it for other reasons.
Greenough’s one-dollar reward was more than some indenturers offered for their missing apprentices, but that probably reflected Greenough’s wish to be seen as a wealthy landed gentleman.[46]
Did Dick succeed in his 1798 escape? Possibly not. Census records for both 1790 and 1800 show one person (Dick?) in the Greenough household listed in the category “All Other Persons Except Indians Not Taxed.” By the 1810 census, Dick would have been 30 years old. This census listed all members of the Greenough household as “White” so Dick had probably moved on.[47]
Was Dick punished for running away? Among the punishments meted out for indentures who ran away was the extension of the time to be held in servitude.[48] There is no evidence currently available indicating that Dick's indenture was prolonged.
Hidden Jamaica Plain will continue to search for later chapters of Dick’s life.
Jamaica Plain Freedom Petitioner
Cuba
Cuba, an African woman, was being held under house detention in Jamaica Plain in the fall of 1777 when she filed this petition for her freedom [49]
Massachusetts Archives Collection, v. 168 pp. 31-32. Petition of Cuba, November 21, 1777. SC1/series 45X. Massachusetts Archives. Boston, Massachusetts.
State of the Massachusetts Bay - To the Honorable Council for said State now Sitting in Boston in the same State - Most Humbly showeth
Cuba a Negro woman of about Twenty five Years of Age who was taken on the high Seas in the Weymouth Packet by the Oliver Cromwell Sloop of War Commanded by Capt Harden and brought into Boston, that she is rejoiced She is in this Land of Liberty where she hopes to Spend her life in Comfort and Freedom, That however the officers of the Oliver Cromwell want to make her their own property and, the Lieu’t (one Chapman) of the s’d Ship, after abusing the Council and all Concerned for her in a most Scurrilous manner Swore that he did not Believe God ever made a Negro and that in Spite of all Courts and Persons whatsoever he would have her Sold as a Slave and Sent to Jamaica next week in Consequence of which She is confined at a House on Jamaica Plains in this State & as that she is scarcely Permitted to see or speak to any Person whatsoever, Your distressed Petitioner therefore in the most humble manner Fly’s to Your Honors for Relief, and earnestly Prays that you would be pleased in your great goodness to Commisurate her deplorable Case by Ordering that She should be Considered and treated as being within the true Intent and meaning of the Act of the Hon General Court of this State September 16, 1776 respecting Negro’s taken on the high Seas and brought in here as therein expressed.
And your unhappy Petitioner as in Duty Bound shall Ever Pray
her
Cuba X
Mark
Boston Nov. 21, 1777
The petition brings many questions to mind.
Cuba had been a passenger aboard the British packet ship Weymouth [50 , 51] bound from Jamaica to London when it was captured by the Connecticut Navy Ship Oliver Cromwell on July 28, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. Although packet ships were meant to carry mail and passengers, when he took the Weymouth, Captain Seth Harding of the Connecticut Navy described her as a “Sloop of War in the English Navy … completely fitted in every Respect for War.” [52] This description would prove critical to Cuba’s future.
By September 10, 1777, the passengers, likely Cuba among them, and the two ships had arrived in Boston. Connecticut Gov. Trumbull requested the Bostonians to treat the prisoners “with Humanity & Tenderness & with that Attention & Complaisance their Stations and Conduct shall appear to merit.” Was Cuba traveling as an enslaved person or was she a free African from either Jamaica or Britain? What might her “station” portend for Cuba?
Over the next month, a prisoner exchange was worked out and on October 17, 1777, the Connecticut Gazette reported, “50 Seamen, taken in the Weymouth Packet … were put on Board a Flag of Truce which sailed for New-York, to be exchanged for a like Number of our Men.” [53]
However, Cuba was not among those prisoners. She remained detained in a house in Jamaica Plain, unable to leave or to speak with visitors. Captain Harding had become ill upon disembarking in Boston and, in his absence, Lt. Chapman had taken charge. Cuba’s petition quoted Chapman’s racist comments and his stated intention to sell her into slavery in Jamaica.
While Cuba was detained in Jamaica Plain, a legal battle ensued over the status of the Weymouth to determine if it was a “Vessel of War.” If so, the Continental Congress had determined the captors (owner and crew) would receive half of the proceeds from the sale of the ship and its contents, including, in this case, the passenger Cuba. A Boston trial jury on October 29, 1777 returned a verdict in favor of the captors determining that the Weymouth was a “Vessel of War.”. [54] With this verdict, Chapman and the crew of the Oliver Cromwell were on a path to sell Cuba into slavery.
Massachusetts Archives Collection, v. 168 pp. 31-32. Petition of Cuba, November 21, 1777. SC1/series 45X. Massachusetts Archives. Boston, Massachusetts.
Where in Jamaica Plain was Cuba being held? Any of the residents of Jamaica Plain might have made their homes available as a place of detention, especially if money were being offered in exchange.
How did Cuba, who signed her name with an “X” and was under house detention, obtain assistance to file her petition for freedom? How did she learn about a 1776 ruling of the Massachusetts Maritime Court that prevented the “Sale of two Negro’s taken on the high Seas”? In 1777, Jamaica Plain was a small closely-knit rural community. Most of the residents attended the church on Centre and South Streets led by Rev. William Gordon, who had spoken out against slavery, including in a letter in May 1777 to Boston newspapers. [55] News of Cuba’s house detention must have traveled within the community, and someone found a way to assist her. Cuba filed her petition on November 21, 1777. Her argument was based on a September 16, 1776 Massachusetts Court “Resolve Forbidding the Sale of Negro Captives” that stated, “And that whenever it shall happen, that any Negroes are taken on the High Seas, and brought as prisoners into this State, they shall not be allowed to be sold, nor treated any otherways than as prisoners are ordered to be treated, who are taken in like manner.” [56]
On December 3, 1777, the Massachusetts Council ruled on Cuba’s behalf:
Petition 899 of Cuba a Negro Woman order thereon December 3, 1777
In Council Dec. 3, 1777 Read and Ordered that the Secretary be directed to furnish the Petitioner with a Copy of Resolve for a passed the General Court Septem. 14, 1776 relative to the Prevention of the Sale of two Negroes taken on the high Seas and the Judge of the Maritime Court certify that the said Negro woman comes within the meaning of & intent of the aforesaid Resolve.
(signed) Jn Avery Dp’ty Secty
Cuba was now a free woman in the “Land of Liberty” she cited in her petition. Presumably she left the site of her captivity in Jamaica Plain and moved on to fulfill the goal of her petition “to Spend her life in Comfort and Freedom.”
Enslaved People of Jamaica Plain
The list of people enslaved in Jamaica Plain will continue to grow as researchers learn more. Hidden Jamaica Plain acknowledges the contributions of these enslaved individuals who helped to build Jamaica Plain but did not benefit from the wealth that they created with their labor.
| Enslaved | Enslaver | Dates of Documentation | Sources | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Negro boy," name once known | Zechariah Chandler | Nov. 11, 1740 | The Chandler Family history by A.M. Pickford - estate inventory The history of Lowder's Lane | "Mary Lowder's father was Zechariah Chandler (b.1695 – d. before 1752) who “lived in West Roxbury on the north side of the Dedham road” and bought a “Negro Boy” for £110 in 1740." |
| Phillis Lewis | John Mory/Morey (1687-1771)) | 1743-March 22, 1843 | Roxbury during the Siege of Boston by Historic Roxbury/Boston National Historical Park; Vital Records of Roxbury in Hathi Trust Digital Library | RSB: "Phillis Lewis, also identified as 'a slave in the family of Mr. Mory before the Revolution,' died in an almshouse in 1843. Her estimated age was 100."; VRR: "(before the Revolution a slave in the family of Mr. Morey of Jamaica Plain), at the almshouse, Mar. 22, 1843, a. abt. 100 y." |
| Jack | John Mory/Morey (1687-1771)) | 1754 | Roxbury during the Siege of Boston by Historic Roxbury/Boston National Historical Park | "Jack, enslaved by John Mory, married Zipporah, enslaved by William Dummer, in 1754." |
| London | Joshua Loring | 1752-1776 | Journal of the American Revolution | Listed in Loring estate. Loring family requested compensation for him as lost property after the Revolution |
| Othello | Joshua Loring | 1752-1776 | Boston Archaeology | |
| Phyllis | Joshua Loring | 1752-1776 | Boston Archaeology | |
| Cato | Sir Francis Bernard | 1765-1770 | The Beginnings of the American Revolution by Ellen Chase | Bernard was Royal Governor of MA from 1760-69. "Upon the Governor's departure, the Jamaica Plain house was let, and Lady Bernard and the children removed to 'Cherry House' near Boston, accompanied by Cato, their black slave, and the negro coachman." |
| "Negro coachman," name once known | Sir Francis Bernard | 1765-1770 | The Beginnings of the American Revolution by Ellen Chase | See above |
| Prince | Eleazer Weld | Feb. 1, 1769; March 12, 1769; March 20, 1769 | Boston Post Boy (3x) Freedom on the Move website enslaver ads | 1771 Tax Records show 1 "Servant for Life" and Weld as "Servant Owner" |
| Cato | John Mory/Morey (1687-1771))/and John Mory/Morey (1738-1800) | 1771 | John Morey (father) 1771 Estate Inventory | "About 12 years old … 32.0.0 British pounds" |
| "A Negro Garl," name once known | John Mory/Morey (1687-1771))/and John Mory/Morey (1738-1800) | 1771 | John Morey (father) 1771 Estate Inventory | "About 11 years old … 26.13.4 British pounds" |
| Zippra | John Mory/Morey (1687-1771))/and John Mory/Morey (1738-1800) | 1771 | John Morey (father) 1771 Estate Inventory | "An Inferm garl … 6.0.0 British pounds" |
| Binah/Bino | John Mory/Morey (1687-1771))/and John Mory/Morey (1738-1800) | 1771 and July 13, 1785 | Mass Historical Society record of purchase; Listed in father Morey's 1771 estate inventory; Mory (son) listed in 1771 tax records as owner of 1 "servant for life" | Mother of Dick. Dick is described as Molatto. Who was the father? Binah was described in 1771 inventory as "A Negro Garl about 7 years old… 16.0.0 British Pounds." She would have given birth around 1780 at age 16. |
| Leath | Mrs. Martin Archibald Robertson | May 30, 1771 | Runaway ad in The Massachusetts Gazette and the Boston Weekly News-letter | "a Negro Man, named Leath, about 22 Years of Age, 5 Feet 7 Inches high: he is of a very modest Look. -- Had on when he went away, a blue Coat with yellow brass Buttons, black Jacket and Breeches." |
| Cato | John Hancock | 1764-1777 | Harvard Report (see footnotes); 1771 Tax record lists Hancock as Servant Owner of "Two Servants for Life" | Sources sometimes contradict each other. The Harvard Report takes its information from the estate inventories (including enslaved people) inherited by John Hancock. Tax records were notorious for underreporting. It is also possible that two of the enslaved people were with Hancock at his JP estate (in Roxbury) while the others stayed in Boston to look after his town home. |
| Frank | John Hancock | 1768-1777 | Harvard Report (see footnotes); 1771 Tax record lists Hancock as Servant Owner of "Two Servants for Life" | |
| Agnes | John Hancock | 1768-1777 | Harvard Report (see footnotes); 1771 Tax record lists Hancock as Servant Owner of "Two Servants for Life" | |
| Violet | John Hancock | 1768-1777 | Harvard Report (see footnotes); 1771 Tax record lists Hancock as Servant Owner of "Two Servants for Life" | |
| Hannibal | John Hancock | 1768-1777 | Harvard Report (see footnotes); 1771 Tax record lists Hancock as Servant Owner of "Two Servants for Life" | |
| Three people enslaved at minimum, names once known | Sir William Pepperrell | 1771 | 1771 Tax record lists as Servant Owner of "Three Servants for Life"; article by Gillian Graham in Maine Press Herald Feb. 14, 2021; Wikipedia | "Throughout his career, Pepperrell enslaved around twenty people at any one time." "Pepperrell's will allowed his wife to have 'any four of my Negroes.'" |
| "Black slave," name once known | Joseph Curtis | 1771 | JP Historical Society website | "The attic is in an unfinished state, just as it was when the household slaves were quartered here." Boston Daily Globe, Nov. 10, 1907; "This descendent of William Curtis bought a horse and black slave and set up market gardening…" JPHS website |
| Sarah | Capt. Timothy Penny | Sept. 25, 1777 | Runaway ad, JPHS website Boston Mayors Office 1976 Development of the neighborhood report | "a Negro woman named Sarah, she is a short black wench about 30 years old, she is supposed to be harbored by some free negro in Boston". "the only sugar planter to come from the Caribbean to Jamaica Plain was Timothy Penny." Penny was from Jamaica and built the house 1774 in West Indian Style and occupied it until his return to Jamaica in 1789. |
| Enslaved person, name once known | Capt. Timothy Penny/Penney | 1771 | 1771 tax records show 2 "Servants for Life" | |
| Dick Morey/Welsh | John Mory/Morey (1738-1800) and David Stoddard Greenough | July 13, 1785; September 6, 1786; June 25, 1798 | Mass Historical Society record of purchase 1785 and 1786 indenture; Quote from Roxbury during the Siege of Boston; 1798 Runaway ad; 1790 census | "John Mory sold a five-year-old 'Molatto Boy... name of Dick who was born in my house of my Negro servent Binah' for 5 pounds to Greenough. The next year, under the supervision of the selectmen, Dick was apprenticed to Greenough until he was 21." Eleazer Weld was one of the witnesses for the 1786 indenture. In 1798 Dick ran away (ad used Welsh as last name) but the 1790 census shows one person who is likely Dick. D.S. Greenough also owned a plantation in Antigua. |
| Moussa Deyaha | James Perkins | 1790s - 1831 | Samuel Perkins Reminiscences; Moussa Deyaha obituary; "Yankees in Haiti" by Benjamin Grande; Harvard Report | Moussa Deyaha, enslaved and brought from Haiti, worked for James Perkins family in Boston until his death in 1831; James Perkins was a slave trader who bought and sold humans into slavery in St. Dominque (Haiti); he also enslaved people in Haiti to work in his home and business |
Contributed by the Hidden Jamaica Plain project, December 2023
Note on THE AuTHORS
Notes
[1] Race & Slavery at the First Church in Roxbury by Aabid Allibhai, 2023
[2] https://www.boston.gov/departments/archaeology/loring-greenough-house
[3] Upstander Project https://upstanderproject.org/learn/guides-and-resources/first-light/doctrine-of-discovery
[4] Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery by Margaret Ellen Newell (Cornell University Press, 2015)
[5] The Theft of Indigenous Land and the Enslavement of Indigenous and African Peoples in Brookline by First Parish Brookline, 2022, Presenter: Ann Gilmore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqOoyAaJZ9Q
[6] Massachusetts Historical Commission (1982), “Historic and Archaeological Resources of the Boston Area,” p. 43 of the PDF version (2007) https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/regionalreports/Bostonarea.pdf
[7] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pequot-War
https://www.bostonharborislands.org/blog/ship-desire/
[8] Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation https://www.easternpequottribalnation.org/
Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation https://www.mptn-nsn.gov/default.aspx
Ponkapoag Massachusett Tribe https://massachusetttribe.org/
Chappaquiddick Wampanoag Tribe https://www.chappaquiddickwampanoag.org/who-we-are/our-history
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) https://wampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/
Nipmuc Nation https://www.nipmucnation.org/
ICT News ictnews.org/
North American Indian Center of Boston http://www.naicob.org/
Mashpee Wampanoag Museum https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/museum
Aquinnah Cultural Center https://www.aquinnah.org/
Aquinnah Cultural Center Wampanoag History Museum https://www.aquinnah.org/museum
Pequot Museum https://www.pequotmuseum.org/
Tomaquog Museum https://www.tomaquagmuseum.org/
[9] Massachusetts Constitution and the Abolition of Slavery https://www.mass.gov/guides/massachusetts-constitution-and-the-abolition-of-slavery#:~:text=It%20is%20generally%20agreed%20that,participated%20in%20the%20slave%20trade.
[10] Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England, Jared Ross Hardesty, University of Massachusetts Press, 2019, p. 93
[11] Slavevoyages.org https://www.bostonharborislands.org/blog/ship-desire/
[12] Boston Slavery Exhibit https://www.boston.gov/departments/archaeology/boston-slavery-exhibit
[13]1771 Massachusetts Tax Survey Database https://legacy.sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hsb41/masstax/masstax.cgi
[14] Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in Eighteenth-Century Boston, Jared Ross Hardesty, New York University Press, 2016, p.22
[15] Hidden Brookline: Lives of the Enslaved. https://hiddenbrookline.weebly.com/lives-of-the-enslaved.html
[16] The Town of Roxbury by Francis S. Drake, published 1878, Jamaica Plain Historical Society website https://www.jphs.org/jp-history-articles/2005/4/10/the-town-of-roxbury-by-francis-s-drake-published-1878.html
[17] The Beginnings of the American Revolution by Ellen Chase
[18] Wikipedia listing for William Pepperrell
[19] 1771 Massachusetts Tax Survey Database https://legacy.sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hsb41/masstax/masstax.cgi
[20] The Confiscated Estates of Boston Loyalists by John T. Hassam, A.M., Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for May, 1895. https://archives.gnb.ca/exhibits/forthavoc/html/Bostonestates.aspx?culture=en-CA#:~:text=The%20estates%20of%20Loyalists%20were,entitled%20%22An%20Act%20for%20confiscating
[21] 78 Massachusetts Privateers, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
[22] Suriname and the Atlantic World, 1650-1800, by Karwan Jalal Fatah-Black, October 1, 2013, Leiden University Repository https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2931388/view
[23] Prince, Thomas Smith, and Elizabeth Patten: Enslaved and Indentured by Eleazer Weld in JP, article on JP Historical Society website
[24] A Look at Slavery in Brookline https://brookline.com/a-look-at-slavery-in-brookline/
[25] African American Heritage in Massachusetts http://www.africanamericanheritagemassachusetts.com/
[26] Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England, Jared Ross Hardesty, University of Massachusetts Press, 2019, p. 140
[27] Ad published by Eleazer Weld in the Boston Evening Post on February 1, 1769 and the Boston Post Boy March 12, 1769.
[28] Levelers and Fugitives: Runaway Advertisements and the Contrasting Political Economies of Mid-Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, Barry Levy, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid Atlantic Studies, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter 2011), Penn State University Press
[29] Ad published by Archibald Robertson, Boston News-Letter on May 30, 1771 and June 5, 1771
[30] Archibald Robertson, Lieutenant-General Royal Engineers: His Diaries and Sketches in America, 1762-1780, edited by Harry Miller Lydenberg, 1930
[31] “Enslaving Minister of the Week: Rev. Ebenezer Thayer,” The Eleven Names Project newsletter by Wayne Tucker references Rev. Thayer’s March 1733 probate inventory and a runaway ad for “Caesar” was published in the Weekly Rehearsal, no. 109, October 29, 1733 https://elevennames.substack.com/p/december-1-2022#%C2%A7enslaving-minister-of-the-week-rev-ebenezer-thayer
[32] Vital Records of Roxbury book shows that Rev. Nathaniel Walter enslaved at least three people, Pages 449, 450 and 451. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89064881170&seq=455
[33] Continental Journal, and Weekly Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts), no. LXX, September 25, 1777: [4]. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers.
[34] Beacon Hill Neighborhood, Colored Conventions Project. https://coloredconventions.org/boardinghouses/biographies/beacon-hill/#:~:text=BEACON%20HILL%20NEIGHBORHOOD%20in%20BOSTON,around%20Belnap%20Street%20exceeded%201%2C000.
[35] The Town of Roxbury by Francis S. Drake, published 1878, Jamaica Plain Historical Society website; https://www.jphs.org/jp-history-articles/2005/4/10/the-town-of-roxbury-by-francis-s-drake-published-1878.html
[36] Boston Mayor’s Office of the Bicentennial, 1976, “Development of the neighborhood based on interviews with residents”
[37] 1771 Massachusetts Tax Survey Database https://legacy.sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hsb41/masstax/masstax.cgi
[38] Letter to Benjamin Franklin from Jonathan Williams, Jr., October 10, 1781, Founders Online, National Archives
[39] Ad, Columbian Centinel (Boston, Massachusetts) XXIX, no. 35, July 4, 1798
[40] Massachusetts Historical Society, Bill of sale from John Mory to David Stoddard Greenough for Dick (an enslaved person), 30 July 1785 https://www.masshist.org/database/669
[41] Dick Morey “in the Capacity of a Servant,” Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 11, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2022/11/dick-morey-in-capacity-of-servant.html
[42] Long Road to Justice: The African American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts http://www.longroadtojustice.org/topics/slavery/quock-walker.php
[43] Massachusetts Historical Society, Indenture between David Stoddard Greenough and Dick Morey, witnessed by selectmen of Roxbury, 6 September 1786 https://www.masshist.org/database/701
[44] Dick Morey “in the Capacity of a Servant,” Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 11, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2022/11/dick-morey-in-capacity-of-servant.html
[45] “About 18 years old, uncommonly large of his age” Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 30, 2022. With thanks to Wayne Tucker of the Eleven Names Project who first made the connection between Dick Morey and Dick Welsh.
[46] Rewards Offered in 1798, Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, December 1, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/search?q=rewards+offered+in+1798
[47] 1790 Federal Census, 1800 Federal Census, 1810 Federal Census
[48] Indentured Servitude in British America, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude_in_British_America
America at 1750: A Social Portrait, by Richard Hofstadter, London: Cape 1972
[49] Original held by the Massachusetts Archives Collection. v.168-Revolution Council Papers, 1777-1778. SC1/series 45X, Petition of Cuba, https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:50257729$2i. The transcription is available in Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 10 https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/naval-documents-of-the-american-revolution/NDARVolume10.pdf
[50] History of Maritime Connecticut During the American Revolution, VOLUME I, 1773-1783, By Louis F. Middlebrook, Salem. Massachusetts, The Essex Institute, 1925, pp. 80-87, 98-103, 116-117 https://www.langeonline.com/Heritage/Maritimehistory.htm
[51] British Merchant Packet Weymouth 1775 https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=28717
[52] Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 9, Sept. 5, 1777 letter from Captain Seth Harding to Governor Jonathan Trumbull https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/naval-documents-of-the-american-revolution/NDARVolume9.pdf
[53] Connecticut Gazette (1777) XIV(727), 17 Oct, p. [3], (online NewsBank).
[54] Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 10 https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/naval-documents-of-the-american-revolution/NDARVolume10.pdf
[55] William Gordon letter to the Independent Chronicle, May 12, 1777
[56] “Resolve Forbidding the Sale of Negro Captives,” Legislative Records of the Council XXXV, 251, Mass. Archives CCXV, 95 and Mass Archives CXXXVII, 81; CCXV, 96 Legislative Records of the Council XXIV, 847, House journal, pp. 105, 106, 109. Province Laws V. 701, notes