Obed and Rose Lindsley (also spelled Linsley) were both
born in Connecticut. According to census data, Obed was
born in 1774 and Rose in 1772; according to a transcription
of Rose's gravestone, she was born in 1769. Obed's death
record has not yet been found.
Obed and his family first appear in Watertown in the 1810
census. Rose became a member of Watertown's First Congregational
Church in 1819, and in April of that year she and her
children, William, Mariah, Anna (Emma) and Caroline, were
baptized. The Lindsleys owned a farm on Echo Lake Road
in Watertown. Their nearest neighbor was Pollard Freeman,
whose farm was a short distance down the road.
By 1850 Obed, still head of household, was listed in the
census as a day laborer; his real estate was valued at
$1000. Two of the Lindsley's daughters lived with them:
Emma Lindsley, age 36; and Caroline Smith, age 33.
Emma Lindsley may have been working as a household servant
for a Waterbury family in the 1840s. The 1840 census lists
several young African American women living with white
families, and, in 1843, Emma became a member of Waterbury's
First Congregational Church.
Also living with the Lindsleys in 1850 were Caroline,
her husband, Eli Smith, and their two sons, William and
George. Eli, a day laborer, was 33; his sons were ages
3 and 1. They had two more children, Walter and Louisa,
in the following years. The Smiths inherited the Lindsley
farm in the late 1850s and lived there until the 1870s.
Rose died August 3, 1855 when she was 86 years old. A
transcription of her gravestone from the early 20th century
reads "In Memory of Rosanna, wife of Obed Lindsley,
Aug. 3, 1855, AEt. 86." She is buried in the Old
Burying Ground in Watertown. Her grave marker is now gone.
back to Waterbury's African Americans List
