March 3, 2023
Researching Hidden History
This Musings from Main is researched and written by Friends' archivist, Leith Johnson. In an effort to inclusively share the stories of historically underrepresented local residents, our staff is currently enrolled in a program offered by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, “Uncovering the Hidden History in Your Town,” which was funded through an Access Grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The goal is to learn research and communication strategies about enslaved persons and people of color during the Colonial and Early American Republic eras.
Regular readers of the Musing will recall one such person: Jessica recently wrote about Dr. Primus Manumit, Windsor’s (and South Windsor’s) first Black doctor and how details about Dr. Manumit’s life—and of persons of color in general—are scarce. The surviving records from this time period must be carefully examined to find traces of the lives they led.
The Grant Family Papers
A search of “Primus” in our online collections database came up with a record of a history of the Ebenezer Grant family written by a descendant, Frances Judd. Judd used 18th and 19th sources to compile her history. Some of these were left to the Friends in Judd’s estate, and we’re thrilled to have the Grant family papers in our collections, which are readily available to the public for research.
Grant was a prominent Windsor merchant and businessman east of the Connecticut River in what is now South Windsor, and among his enterprises was a store. A Friends volunteer indexed the history, and Primus was included in the many names. Judd also listed people whom she believed were enslavers and described transactions of some of Grant’s customers, including Primus (I am not referring to him as “Dr.” or “Manumit” for reasons I’ll state below). Even though it’s an exhaustive history, there are no citations of sources, and we must look at the actual documents in our possession for verification.
Ebenezer Grant's Account Book
One of the items in the Grant family papers is an account book kept by Ebenezer Grant from about 1759 to 1779.
In an informal way, he noted goods that were sold and, in some cases, items or labor received by him in return as payment. Critical to our research, we have discovered references to people of color whom we presume to be enslaved and others that were perhaps formerly or never enslaved. What we have uncovered so far is based on an initial survey; there’s more to learn as we delve into the book more closely.
Ambiguous Listings
We found Primus among the listings (the numbers on the right indicate what was paid in pounds, shillings, and pence):
In the account book, he is not referred to as “Dr.” or “Primus Manumit.” While we assume this is the same person, we do not want to cause confusion and make any suppositions; we only have references to “Primus Negro” and “Primus.” But assuming they are the same person (which seems likely), one scenario appears to indicate that he had not yet taken the name “Manumit.” Or if he had, Grant did not use it, and he was not regarded as a doctor, at least not by Grant, who referred to other individuals in the account book with the title of doctor.
The account book has references to people we may infer were enslaved:
We infer that “Yr Negro” (“your Negro”) is an anonymous enslaved person.
At that time, it was not uncommon for what we would now think of as people picking up goods for other people. In the excerpt below, we see Thomas Hall’s transaction was received by Benjamin Grant, Aaron Grant’s by “your son,” Dr. Daniel Rockwell’s by Abner, and Noah Bissell’s was received by Brace.
Now, take a look at these listings:
We see that in the first, Moses Wells’s transaction is done by “Negro,” Benjamin Cook’s is done by Primus, and Capt. Joshua Loomis’s is done by “yr. Negro.”
These listings offer tantalizing information. If we infer that the two anonymous persons identified as “Negro” are enslaved, what does it mean that Primus is referred to by name here? (Remember, that he is referred to as “Primus Negro” in other listings.) There are at least three possibilities: 1) he was enslaved by Benjamin Cook and for some reason Grant referred to him by name; 2) he was enslaved by someone else at this time, possibly Dr. Alexander Wolcott; 3) he had never been an enslaved person or had been freed.
Complicating this situation, the account book has references to at least one other person of color by name, John Negro. For example, there’s this:
Who was John Negro? Who was the “Piny girl” and why was she conducting a transaction for him? What was his status?.
And finally, what about Dr. Alexander Wolcott, the Windsor doctor who it is believed enslaved Primus and under whom Primus learned to be a doctor? Dr. Wolcott was also the man who later set Primus free, after which Primus took the name “Manumit” and became a respected and successful doctor who made his home east of the River. The account book has this listing that shows that on 2 May 1764 they both made purchases. What might this tell us?
There’s a lot more investigation to be done, but it’s great to have such a compelling source in our collection to work on.
Does this interest you? We are looking for reserach volunteers who would like to explore these questions and more. Please contact Leith Johnson at archives@woodmemoriallibrary.org.
