The first enslaved African American in Waterbury is
believed to have arrived sometime around 1730, when Deacon
Thomas Clark, a storekeeper and the town clerk and town
treasurer, purchased a young boy named Mingo and brought
him to Waterbury. There were at least two other African
Americans in Waterbury in the 1730s: Lewis and Filis are
included in Capt. William Hickcoxs estate inventory
of 1737.
Census Data
Records of the people enslaved in Waterbury during the
eighteenth century are scarce. The 1756 Connecticut census
recorded 27 African Americans living in Waterbury, representing
just under 2% of the towns population. When the
census was taken again in 1774, there were 34 African
Americans and 4 Native Americans in Waterbury, a mere
1% of the towns population. The two colonial census
reports did not distinguish free from enslaved, but the
first federal census, taken in 1790, reported 14 free
African Americans and 10 enslaved. The number of slaves
in Waterbury dropped from seven people in 1800 to only
one, a woman named Phyllis, in 1810. She was given her
freedom soon afterwards.
Contracts
Slaves were often promised to be freed at a future date,
if they performed their services faithfully. Rev. Southmayd
wrote in his will, probably in the 1750s, that his two
slaves, Sampson and Fillis, were to be given their freedom
if they were faithful, careful and industrious
in helping to raise his grandchildren. In 1752, Capt.
Samuel Hickcox indentured Martin Molotts, the son of his
slave Larance, when he was four years old; the contract
declared that Martin would be free upon reaching his 24th
birthday. A woman named Rhoda Bristol, who became an indentured
servant when she was a young woman, was sold in 1751 as
a "slave for life" by the Waterbury man she
worked for.
Restrictions
Many Waterbury slaves were considered to be members of the
family and were sometimes baptized along with the familys
children, but they were not treated as equals. Colonial
laws placed a curfew of 9 p.m. on slaves. Penalties for
breaking the curfew included a whipping for the slave and
a fine for the slave owner. Free and enslaved African Americans
were restricted from leaving the boundaries of their towns
without a pass or ticket.
Work
Slave owners often hired out their slaves to work for
other people. Waterbury was primarily a farming community
in the eighteenth century. Enslaved men and boys worked
as farm laborers, while women and girls were household
servants. On some occasions, the enslaved were allowed
to sweep the church or ring the school bell, tasks that
were considered to be prestigious by Waterbury's white
residents.
Community
In some cases, as with Fortune and Dinah, a husband and
wife would be enslaved in one household and would raise
their children together. In many other cases, however, there
was only one person enslaved within a Waterbury household.
Mingo is believed to have had a wife and children, but so
far it appears that he lived alone within the Clark household.
Waterburys African Americans, both free and enslaved,
knew one another and were allowed to form friendships with
one another and with the white community. Cuff Capeny, a
free African American, wrote his will in 1777 and
left money for two enslaved African Americans, Silence
and Timothy, and personal items for two white men.
Westbury
In the section of Waterbury known as Westbury (now the town
of Watertown), several African Americans who had gained
their freedom were able to purchase land, own and operate
successful farms, and raise families. There does not appear
to have been this same level of freedom in the center of
Waterbury, where the land remained the possession of the
original town settlers. Westbury also had a number of enslaved
African Americans, primarily within a small handful of households.
"An Act Concerning Indian, Molatto
and Negro Servants, and Slaves," 1750
From Acts and Laws of His Majesty's English Colony
of Connecticut in New England in America. Collection
of the Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury, CT.
"An Act Concerning Indian, Molatto
and Negro Servants, and Slaves," 1750
From Acts and Laws of His Majesty's English Colony
of Connecticut in New England in America. Collection
of the Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury, CT.
"An Act Concerning Indian, Molatto
and Negro Servants, and Slaves," 1750
From Acts and Laws of His Majesty's English Colony
of Connecticut in New England in America. Collection
of the Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury, CT.
United States Tax Returns, 1800
A composite image showing taxes paid in Waterbury on slaves.
Slave owners were Preserved Porter, Sarah Leavenworth,
John Nichols and Miles Newton. Collection of the Mattatuck
Museum.