The topic for week 36 of 2024’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is “We Don’t Talk About It.”
When we covered the Civil War in school, I clearly remember smugly thinking, “At least my ancestors didn’t own slaves.” Sure, they did other horrible things, but they didn’t do that. They didn’t participate in our national shame, right?.......Right?
Ahhhh…the things we weren’t taught in school! If you had well-to-do ancestors in the Northeast, they may well have owned slaves. And to clarify, I do mean either Native American or African slaves – not Irish slaves. The Irish slave thing is myth and never actually happened. Slavery in New England was documented as early as 1638. It wasn’t as prevalent up here as it was in the south, due to the lack of large plantations, but it did exist. Well-to-do people might have owned one or two slaves and used them as domestic servants or as labor in their businesses. Most enslaved people in the 17th century were Native Americans, but this changed in the 18th century when colonists gained access to the African slave market. Laws were passed in the 18th century to outlaw slavery, but some enslaved people were legally held in New England states as late as the 1840s. Rhode Island was the last New England state to abolish slavery. New Hampshire, ever the Alabama of the North, didn't ban it until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865.
At least three of my New England ancestors owned slaves. One lived in Massachusetts, two in Maine (though Maine was considered part of Massachusetts at the time). My most prominent ancestor to own slaves was Ephraim Turner, who owned a school of politeness, dancing, and fencing in Boston. Putnam’s Magazine in February 1857 wrote in a retrospective, “Old Master Turner, of honored memory, presided over the graces, and taught deportment and etiquette to the rising generation of his time. He exacted great respect from his pupils, and always paid them the compliment of appearing at his school in powdered wig, with all the paraphernalia of full dress. He was driven to the door in his own vehicle, attended by his black servant, who had charge of the violin.” “Black servant” was a euphemism for slave. In Ephraim’s 1765 will, he left his wife Dorothy “my horse & chaise to her & her heirs forever, as also my two Negro men one named Tom, the other Cato.” In the inventory list for his estate dated 1767, a “Negroman” is listed under current inventory, and a “Negro boy” sold for 360 pounds. Their names aren’t listed, nor does it say to whom the boy was sold.
My 7th and 8th great-grandfathers, Andrew Neale and Andrew Neale Jr. were also slave owners. The father and son lived in Kittery, Maine where they owned a significant amount of farmland. Andrew Neale Sr. died in 1739 and left his “Negro garl, Dillo” to his wife Katherine. Andrew Neale Jr. left his slave boy Cesar to his son, James in 1758.
Cesar’s story is interesting. The Neales were Quakers, and while the Quakers always spoke out against the cruel treatment of slaves, the church didn’t outright ban the practice until 1773. Throughout 1773, Cesar attended Quaker meetings with James and was permitted to work outside the home. He was manumitted in 1774, and James used the money Cesar earned to purchase a piece of property for him. Cesar adopted the surname “Sankee” and married Sarah Sharp in 1774. Their son, Simon, was born in 1776, and the family moved to New Hampshire. Cesar joined the New Hampshire militia and fought in the American Revolution. He eventually moved to Vermont, where he filed for a military pension in 1830.
We're lucky we know what became of Cesar because few stories are known about New England slaves. Tom, Cato, and Dillo’s stories will probably never be told.
Edited to add: After posting this, my brother found this interesting information about Cesar's son, Simon Sankee, who was a well-known barber in Claremont, NH: https://blackheritagetrailnh.org/2019-lenten-program-day-17/
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