Enslaved individuals who fell ill or struggled with chronic health conditions were a major point of contention among the colonists of New Haven County. Several enslavers launched lawsuits in the County Court alleging that the sellers of the enslaved were aware of their malaise during transactions, and therefore committed fraud. Today, we chronicle the cases of Harry, Dick, Fortune, Hanah, Ishmael, and Prince—all of whom found themselves at the center of such legal disputes over the course of the 1700s.
When quoting from documents, we will use the actual spelling, including transcriptions of individual words as necessary. (For more information about colonial spelling practices, see The Standardization of American English at teachinghistory.org.) In certain circumstances, we will add missing letters to abbreviated words or substitute modern spelling in brackets to enhance reader comprehension.
Ancestry: African
Presumed illness: consumption
Date of lawsuit: November 1727
Plaintiff: Joseph Rogers of Milford
Defendant: Isaac Gorham of New Haven
Rogers alleged “fraud[ulent] & unjust doings” by Gorham in the sale of a boy named Harry. When Rogers purchased Harry for 70 pounds, Gorham “did afirm s[ai]d boy to be well & sound.” However, Rogers claimed that Harry was “unsound Infirm & Consum[p]tive & so continueth to this day & is wors[e] than nothing to the pl[ain]t[iff] which the def[endan]t well knew.” Rogers demanded 95 pounds in damages.
Gorham pled not guilty, so the Court committed the case to jury for consideration. Upon deliberation, the jury found in favor of the defendant, awarding him the recovery of his court costs. The Court accepted the verdict (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 3, 1713 to 1739, p. 252).
Unfortunately, we do not know what Harry’s ultimate fate was. But we do know that consumption (the old-fashioned name for tuberculosis) was not uncommon among the enslaved, as similar claims were made about an African-descended man named Cuffee in 1740 (Samuel Oxx vs. Joseph Mix) and another African-descended man named Peleg in 1755 (Michael Baldwin vs. John Lane).
Harry’s case: writ for Joseph Rogers vs. Isaac Gorham
Ancestry: African
Presumed illness: epilepsy
Date of lawsuit: December 1753
Plaintiff: Samuell Bellomy of New Haven
Defendant: Samuell Talcott of Hartford
Bellomy claimed that Talcott “did Decieve & Delude him” that a teenage boy named Dick was “Sound & well in health.” When Bellomy purchased Dick for 431 pounds at Middletown, he discovered him to be “unsound, Sick Subject to... [epileptic] fits, Intirely good for nothing.” Bellomy demanded 100 pounds in damages.
The Court found in favor of the plaintiff, awarding Bellomy the full damages and the recovery of his court costs. Talcott was allowed an appeal to the Superior Court, and Mr. Robert Walker of Stratford was bound on recognizance of 120 pounds that “the Def[endan]t shall prosecute this appeal to effect & answer all Damages if he make not plea good” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 4, 1739 to 1755, p. 624).
While we do not know what happened to poor Dick after the trial, the records do give us some key insight as to where he may have come from. Timothy Miller testified that “in the year 1752 I was a hand abord the Sloop Dolphin Capt[ain] John Eason master in voyage from Coast of Gunia Loaden with Negros,” and that he witnessed a boy (presumably Dick) that “had a fitt and fell down upon the Deck and acted as person often do in fitts of [falling] Sickness but of what Name the boy was of I don’t Remember as there was 70 or Eighty Negros abord.”
We hope to discover more about what happened to Dick when we begin processing the Superior Court records.
Dick’s case: testimony of Timothy Miller
Ancestry: African
Presumed illness: unknown, fatal
Date of lawsuit: February 1754
Plaintiff: Elnathan Taylor of New Haven
Defendant: Shadreuk Seegar of Wallingford
Taylor alleged that Seegar “Cheated him in the Sale” of a toddler boy named Fortune, who was only two years old. Taylor purchased Fortune for 240 pounds, giving Seegar notes for 100 pounds and 140 pounds to be paid in the future. While Fortune came “with a bill of Sale Warranting s[ai]d boy to be Sound and well,” the boy sadly “was Nott well but [languishing] Died in about 6 weeks Next after the b[u]ying afores[ai]d.” Taylor demanded 50 pounds in damages.
Seegar pled not guilty. Upon deliberation, the jury found in favor of the defendant, awarding him the recovery of his court costs. However, the Court allowed a review of this verdict, as Mr. Samuell Darling of New Haven was bound on recognizance of 10 pounds “that the Pla[i]nt[iff] shall prosecute this Review to effect & answer all Damages if he make not his plea good” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 4, 1739 to 1755, p. 678).
Indeed, the case was once again heard at the April 1755 session. This time, the jury found in favor of the plaintiff, awarding Taylor 40 pounds in damages and the recovery of his court costs. The matter seems to have ended there, as the record book states “the Court accept the verdict” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 4, 1739 to 1755, p. 725).
Little Fortune was not the only enslaved child afflicted with fatal illness to be documented in the Court records. In the same year as this case occurred, a 13-year-old African-descended boy named Cesar, who was alleged to be “blind in his Eyes, & affected with inward Sickness & weakness,” died five months after purchase (Jonathan Barker vs. Joseph Peck, 1755).
Fortune’s case: writ for Elnathan Taylor vs. Shadreuk Seegar
Ancestry: African
Presumed illness: pox venereal disease
Date of lawsuit: March 1764
Plaintiffs: Abraham Dunyee and Abraham Shenk of Fishkill, New York
Defendant: Benjamin Richard of Waterbury
Dunyee and Shenk accused Richard of “deceitfull and [w]rongfull doing” in the sale of a teenage girl named Hanah. While Richard did by “writing Warrant that the said Hanah was Sound and Well,” Dunyee and Shenk claimed that she was “unsound and good for Nothing by reason of Illness and was Infected with an Incurable diseas[e] caled a Confirmed Pox or Vener[e]al diseas[e]… and is altogether useless, and unfit for Service and worse than Nothing by reason of her Illness.” They demanded 150 pounds in damages.
The Court found in favor of the defendant, awarding Richard the recovery of his court costs. Dunyee and Shenk appealed the case, and Mr. Edward Hinman of Woodbury was bound on recognizance of 20 pounds “that the Pla[i]nt[iff]s shall prosecute this Appeal to effect and answer all Damages if they make not their plea good” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 6, 1764 to 1767, p. 3). As there is no further reference to this case in the County Court records, we surmise the appeal may have gone to the Superior Court.
Given that “pox” was used as code for syphilis in the eighteenth century, it is likely that Hanah suffered from this particular venereal disease. While we do not know where or how she contracted this “pox,” the implications of her condition are disturbing. As Wendy Warren wrote in her examination of slavery in New England, “for all the apparently consensual couplings made visible by those fornication cases, we might consider how many nonconsensual relations must have occurred, if New England’s version of chattel slavery was anything like that in the rest of the Atlantic world” (New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, p. 163).
We hope to discover more about what happened to Hanah in the Superior Court records.
Hanah’s case: writ for Abraham Dunyee and Abraham Shenk vs. Benjamin Richard
Ancestry: African, European
Presumed illness: chronic disease of the blood
Date of lawsuit: February 1770
Plaintiff: John Lothrop of New Haven
Defendant: Caleb Chapman of Saybrook
Lothrop alleged “fraudulent warranty” by Chapman in the sale of a teenage boy named Ishmael. Although Chapman “did then & there warrant the s[aid] Mulatto Boy to be sound and well,” Lothrop discovered that Ishmael “laboured under a constitutional chronical disease, viz a destruction of the Crasis of the blood, and extreme Laxity of the Fibres with which the s[ai]d Boy hath languished ever since the s[ai]d bargain and Sale, and still languishes.” In addition, Lothrop further claimed that Chapman “well knew s[ai]d Boy to be unsound & diseased.” He demanded 35 pounds in damages.
Chapman pled not guilty. Upon deliberation, the jury found in favor of the plaintiff, awarding Lothrop the full damages and the recovery of his court costs. Chapman appealed the case, and John Shipman, Esquire of Saybrook was bound on recognizance of 50 pounds “that the Def[endan]t shall prosecute this Appeal to Effect and answer all Damages if he make not his plea good” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, p. 237). Given that there is no further reference to this case in the County Court records, we surmise this appeal also went to the Superior Court.
As to the nature of Ishmael’s illness, there are any number of chronic blood disorders that Ishmael could have been suffering from, including anemia, hemophilia, various cancers, or even Sickle Cell Anemia. We hope to discover more about what happened to Ishmael in the Superior Court records.
Ishmael’s case: writ for John Lothrop vs. Caleb Chapman
Ancestry: African
Presumed illness: salt rheum
Date of lawsuit: March 1774 (writ dated February 1774)
Plaintiff: Abijah Buckingham of Milford
Defendant: Samuel Tuttle of New Haven
Buckingham complained of “wrong Deceitfull and fraudulent Doings,” by Tuttle in the sale of a man named Prince. When Buckingham purchased Prince for 60 pounds, Chapman declared he was “sound & well in Body and in Good Health and Well able to Perform any Kind of Labour or Husbandry Business.” However, Buckingham found that Prince “Had a Breach in his Body and was Burst and also Laboured under and had then upon him a Disease called the Salt Rhumes... and is thereby rendered unable to perform any Business or Labour of any Kind.” Buckingham further claimed that he was “put to Great Cost & Trouble in Doctering and Nursing” Prince. He demanded 100 pounds in damages.
Tuttle pled not guilty. Upon deliberation, the jury found in favor of the defendant, awarding Tuttle the recovery of his court costs. Buckingham appealed the case to the Superior Court and was bound on recognizance of 20 pounds “to prosecute this appeal to effect and answer all Damages if he make not his plea good” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 8, 1774 to 1783, p. 2).
While we cannot be exactly sure of what condition Prince suffered from, salt rheum was “a popular name, esp. In the United States, for various cutaneous eruptions, particularly for those of eczema” (The Free Dictionary). We hope to discover more about what happened to Prince in the Superior Court records.
Prince’s case: writ for Abijah Buckingham vs. Samuel Tuttle
In comparing these six cases, there are some disconcerting observations. Five of these lawsuits involved enslaved minor children, with the youngest of them dead before the trial began. The single lawsuit regarding an enslaved female is also the only case in the group that involved venereal disease. The verdicts of these cases varied widely—sometimes the Court found in favor of the plaintiff, sometimes the Court found in favor of the defendant, and sometimes the rulings were overturned on appeal. But regardless of the differing situations and verdicts, all of these cases are stark demonstrations of the cruelty of the institution of slavery, compounded by the challenge of disease.
In a June 2021 presentation for the Connecticut League of History Organizations, Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Massachusetts, stated (in paraphrase) that while it is important to read against the grain of colonial records—for example, reviewing estate inventories to discover the names of enslaved persons—we must remember that these records were not created for the marginalized, so they cannot tell us about an individual’s internal life or experience of being enslaved. But it is still important for memory institutions to tell what we know about these people, even if it is just a sentence of information.
While we do not know what the people profiled in this blog post thought about their circumstances, where or how they contracted their ailments, or what happened to them after the Court determined who was financially liable for their conditions, we remember that there once lived a boy named Harry, a boy named Dick, a boy named Fortune, a girl named Hanah, a boy named Ishmael, and a man named Prince.
As noted in a previous post, the records for these cases, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).
The Connecticut State Library would like to thank the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for their generous support of this project.
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