Black life in Slavery-era Plymouth County as seen through the courts
Cuffee Josselyn and the Aftermath of Slavery in Hanover, Massachusetts
There is no reason to believe, until scholarship says otherwise, that, given the racial climate of the post-Revolutionary era, Black paupers did not face unique sets of challenges when navigating the slavery-to-pauper pipeline.
Continue readingCaesar Watson of Plymouth and His Freedom Suit
In which Founding Father Robert Treat Paine and merchant Elkanah Watson, Sr. get crushed in court by Caesar, a Black man, and his attorney Benjamin Kent. Caesar accused Watson of assaulting him, unjustly imprisoning him, and enslaving him.
Continue readingPrimas languished and died of consumption
1739: Isaac Little of Pembroke sues Stephen Andrews for fraud. Andrews sold Little an enslaved man named Primas who was sick with consumption.
Continue readingPrimas, diseased with a swelling in his throat
1731: Primas “languished and within three months” of his sale, he died.
Continue readingImposing himself on her for the said John her husband
1740: Guiney, “”a Negro Slave of Joshua Drew of Plymouth…broke up that part of…Drew’s house in which Rebecca, wife of Jonathan Davenport, dwells and wickedly attempted to debauch…Rebecca by imposing himself on her for the said John her husband”.
Continue readingThe sentence of whipping immediately executed upon her
1722: Sarah Boyce of Pembroke, “singlewoman” gave birth to “a bastard child” in 1716 and confessed that “Squire, a negro man, was the father”. The “court ordered her to be publically whipped 10 stripes and to pay fees and charges”.
Continue readingAbraham: enticed to run away, then hidden
1735: Benjamin Stockbridge claimed that James Hyland “enticed [his negro man servant] Abraham to run away with him and hid him from September to November 1732, and…refused to obey an order of the superior court in April 1734 to return [Abraham]”. Verdict for the plaintiff, appealed by the defendant.
Continue readingJohn, branded with a B for burglary
1686: “John Negro, Slave of Capt John Williams” of Scituate confessed to the burglary of “money, writings, and divers goods”. John was sentenced to stand on the gallows for 1 hour and be burnt in the hand with the letter B, as well as being required to pay for prosecution, imprisonment, and court fees.
Continue readingJo, whipped for fornication with Sarah Curtice
1698: “Jo, an negro servant to William Holbrooke of Scituate was sentenced to be publicly whipped ten stripes for committing fornication with Sarah Curtice of Scituate as upon oath she affirmed. Sentence executed.”
Continue readingCharles, the stowaway from Barbados
1742: John Coshat/Corhatt, a minor of Plymouth (mariner), and Scipio, a negro slave belonging to Capt John Pickard, while visiting Carlisle Bay, Barbados, “did take and conceal on board the sloop Molly…a…negro man called Charles”, held in slavery by Benjamin Bissett.
Continue readingTony & Mariah sue for their daughter’s freedom in Scituate
1717: Tony and Meriah, Negroes, v. Cornelius Briggs…”In an action to prove the liberty of the plaintiff’s daughter Molly, alias Mary, detained by…Briggs as a slave contrary to law”.
Continue readingSurre, “possessed of the divel”
1730: Nicholas Litchfield sued Isreal Cowing for fraud. Cowing sold Litchfield a Negro man named Jack and a woman named Surre for £160, but Surre was never delivered. Cowing had promised to “deliver said Negroes well and in good order”.
Continue readingScipea’s clandestine lodging
1753: Ruben Harlow “did entice and seduce Scipea a Negro man servant…to supply…Ruben with meat, drink, washing, and lodging in a secret and clandestine way at the house of…[Isaac] Thomas” of Plymouth.
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Copyright Wayne Tucker 2023. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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