The Portland daily press., 1886-06-08
LIN 30.
An Historic Person of Corham and
Fryeburg.

To the Editor Of the Press:
AS an observer and listener to the inter
esting exercises at Gorham, at their recent
celebration, / was surprised while hearing
the stories of early settlers; of those promi-
| nent, or those in humble life; of white citi-
zens, and also those held as slaves, that the
name of Limbo was not mentioned. He
was an early resident of Gorham, and few
years later was among the earliest pioneer
settlers in Fryeburg. He was the slave Of
VIM. Mcclellan, and is referred to in Elijah
Kellogg's "A Strong Arm and Mothers
Blessing and in II. D. McLellan's (unpub-
lished) history of Gorham.
Limbo was quite an old man when they
began to agitate the proposition to liberate
the slaves of Massachusetts. About this
time the comeouters and new lights were in
full blast in Gorham; universal freedom and
universal liberty for every man to do just
what he pleased seemed to be the hobby OF
most of them. Limbo was very fond Of 60
ing to their meetings. They persuaded him
to run away At first he was unwilling.
One Sunday morning, he was met In his 1T
tie piece of corn at some distance from the
house by some of his religious 1rlen4s. iney
rian saws that the family in which ne was
owned never heard of him afterwards: Ihe
same writer says that ''the Abolitionlsts
ought to erect monument to Limbo mem
ory, for he was probably the hrst slave ever
sent over the underground rddtr0dd TO Tree
dom.''
Limbo, with others used to drive cattle up
to the great meadows in Pigwacket ana WIN
ter them there before the town was settled
and after the settlement OF the town ne ana
two white men, Nathaniel Merrill and
Johns Stevens, were the first three persons
to pass a winter, that of 1852 and '63,. in
Fryeburg In this way he became acqualnt-
ed with the Fryeburg settlers mus Frye
burg, with the aid of the under ground rail-
road, became Limbo's Canaan. When he
in Gorham during the cold, bleak winters ne
brought many little personal comforts OF his
own, potatoes, which he buried In a hole aug
in the ground, and covered with DruSn 10
blacks in general are very fond One win
ter. Philip, fellow slave, brought his cat,
and Limbo took along for pets and company,
his hens and tame crow.
1t has been said that his first owner here,
Moses Ames, one of the Seven Lots" men,
did not treat him kindly. How Ames OBJ
tanned his title to a runa,cag sldue 1t is not
related.l Limbo, unlike Prince, another
slave of McLellan's did not return to his Old
master notwithstanding his bitter experience
as a freeman, rather than enjoy ease and
comfort in slavery. He was afterwards sold
by Mr.. Ames to Samuel Osgood, another
'Seven Lots" man, for yoke of oxen. Mr..
Osgood subsequently sold him to his son,
Lieut.. James Osgood "for five shillings law
full money!" This last sale was merelform,
to hand him down to another generation, and
thus keep the title in the family James II.
Osgood recently discovered, among his grand
fathers papers the bill of sale OF LIMBO,
dated October 4th, 1890. Mr.. Osgood has hello
typed this interesting old document.
Mcclellan says Limbo was quite an oid
man before he ran away, and what is quite
remarkable. he says ''he was never heard Oh
afterwards This is certainly very strange,
when we remember that Fryeburg is less
than forty miles from Gorham, and tnat
Limbo lived there nearly seventy. years.
history of Fryeburg. Many interesting
anecdotes might be related of him, but space
forbids. He used to tell the old citizens OF
Fryeburg that he was kidnapped on the coast
of Guinea while he was out feeding SILK
worms.
In his later years he was kindly cared for
by Aunt Nabby Osgood, the kind-hearted
hostess of the Oxford House. he died
December 18th, 1928, and rests in an honored
grave His humble tombstone may be seen
in the old cemetery at the head of the village,
with the following inscription: CIhe tablet
was not erected till several years after his
death, and this accounts for the error OF It's
date, which is proved by other records)
LIMBO,
A NATIVE OF AFRICA,
Lies here. He was, while living, an honest
man, the noblest work of God.
Died Nov, 1922 aged 90"
A. F. LEWIS.