New Britain herald., 1919-01-28
EW BRITAIN


EA greater part Of our slaves were
3neS, and as a rule there were
4 few in any one household.
sAnwarrins's Digest of the Hartford
Hfobate Records mentions So slaves
sbetween 1900 and 1850 as belonging
SO As different estates. Thirty of these
s45 estates had only one slave each.
The largest number mentioned in con-
snection with any one estate is nlnc'
They belonged to the estate Of Samuel
Arnold, of East Haddam. The next
largest enumber is eight, in connec-
ton with the estate Of Richard Lord,
of Hartford. 17IO. BARRIERS Historical
Collections of Connecticut is authority
for the statement that Godfrey NAL
bone. of Brooklyn. Conn, owned be-
tween so to so slaves He was a larSe
land owner and paid one-third of all
the taxes collected by the COnSrcSa-
tional Society in which he resided.
FINALLY he built an Episcopal Church
about 1870 and established service in
it in order TO avoid paying further
taxes to the g-'onGr egatiOnaIistS.
Can't William Lewis, of Farming
ton, who died in 1890, had an estate
in LAND and Negroes but how many
negroes he had does not appear in the
published abstracts Of the record
Capt Lewis lived where the Elm Tree
Inn now is and the present dining
room Of the Inn is part of the house
which he built about 1915. This is
the earliest record ] have found of a
slave in the town of Pennington. The
first slave in uthington was d Span
ish Indian, who was living in the fam
nf in n
1871. The first slave in Waterbury
was named Mingo and belonged to
Dca. Thomas Clark in 1850.
Slaves arc seldom referred to in the
Probate Records as such. but are
but the context often shows that they
were in fact slaves. The will of Sam
uel Woodbridge, Of Hartford. 1746.
mentions the negro woman and all
her children which are now my prop
erty." The Rev. Timothy Woodbridge,
of Hartford. 1892, mentioned in his
will negro girl Lydia and willed that
his "dauehter Susanah Treat may
have said negro girl paying a reason
able price for her. Samuel Allyn, of
Windsor, in his will, 1742, states that
the negro boy that my daughter
w
to her at 80 pounds money" The will
of Thomas Joanes, Of Colchester, 1724,
gave q negro girl to his wife and di-
rccted in case the said girl survives
his wife She shall be appraised and
set out to his children.
Bearing on the value Of slaves the
inventory of Joseph Talcott, Hartford,
1741, included Negroes Jupiter, 70
0,i,, 1rl-
100 pounds: Rose As pounds; Lille,
80 pounds. The inventory of the es-
tate of Ensign Samuel Talcott, of
Wothersfield, 1893, included d negro
man and woman valued at 200 pounds,
a boy Peter. IS pounds, and a boy
Sampson, 80 pounds. Daniel Merrills,
of Hartford, in 1744 Willed to his son
Jonathan 1.-The negro girl Phcbc that
now lives with him in lieu of 100
pounds money" one of the items in
the inventory of the estate Of Stephen
Willard of Wethersfeld, 1741, is "a
negro man Shampane," 100 pounds.
In 1910. the eight negroes Of Richard
Lord, of Hartford, were inventorfed
at the low price of 10 to As pounds
each, whereby I infer that the price
of negro slaves advanced about three
fold between 1910 and 1740. John
Bclden. Of Wethersfcld. freed his ne
gro Sampson in 1879 in consideration
of 400 pounds Continental money.
The inventory of the estate of Samuel
Bronson. the miller Of KensinSton, in
1852 indicates that the price of slaves
had then advanced about six times
since ITO. His four slaves were APP
praised as follows: Lot, 400 pounds;
Hannah. 800: Saul, 200, and Pharoh,
1870. Bronson's mill stood where the
Paper Goods factory now is The in
ventory of the estate Of Tim othy
Jerome, of Mcriden, 1850, included
four slaves: Pomp, 400 pounds; Rose,
295; Jenny. 100, and Prince, 95.
The appreciation Of the faithful
service Of slaves and the kindly feel
ing toward them is indicated in Vari
Gus Wills. Job Drake Of Windsor, in
Ills will of l712 bequaethcd 40 shil-
lines to his "mother'S negro servant,
Dick" Thomas Hart Sea- of Farm
ineton. 1721 Willed his "Ncgro scrv-
amt Richard" s acres of land, "if he
tarl,y in town and improve it, but il
he leave town it shall return TO my
sons, Samuel Arnold Of East Had
dam, also considered it desirable to
have Negroes reside Withi1 his town.
His will of 1888, provided that II his
Negro man servant named Prince, Nn
9Th son of my eldest man servant
Prince and of Cate his wife, be sold
he shall not be sold to any master liV-
ing out of town" Perhaps he thought
that Prince would be lonesome in
strange town.
Elisha Micks of Wethers(cld, in his
will, 1897, made certain requests to
his sister Goodrich upon condition
that she maintain and take care Of
my negro maid Betty" The will of
Samuel Allyn, Hartford ZAP, reads in
part My will is that my servants
CYRUS and William, inVentOried at 100