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A Brief Bio of Peter Tusco, a “Spanish Indian” of Southington

A Brief Bio of Peter Tusco, a “Spanish Indian” of Southington

AUTHOR: Katherine Hermes Peter Tusco died in Southington, Connecticut in 1767 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. His origins are not known, but in the probate records, he is identified as a Spanish Indian. He was probably an indigenous person from someplace in the Spanish territories, such as Florida. New England colonists considered Spanish Indians lawful captives under the presumption that they had been enslaved under the laws of New Spain. The desire for captive labor motivated colonial wars…

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Free in Farmington: The Stories of Two Men Named Frank

Free in Farmington: The Stories of Two Men Named Frank

Author: Tavvia Jefferson The history books are mostly silent about two free black men named Frank who lived in colonial Farmington. Christopher Bickford’s town history, Farmington in Connecticut, omits them entirely. Barbara Donahue’s book, Speaking for Ourselves: African American Life in Farmington, Connecticut is one of the few books to mention the men. There are no records documenting the dates of the births of either Frank, but there are probate records that provide glimpses into their lives.  In the probate records from 1698 and…

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A Glimpse into Farmington’s Past: The Charlotte Cowles Letters

A Glimpse into Farmington’s Past: The Charlotte Cowles Letters

Author: Garrett Coady Farmington, Connecticut had been a New England hub for evangelical abolition during the decade of 1835 and 1845. Farmington had established an anti-slavery society in 1836 that was initiated around abolitionist reform and evangelical revival. One of the Farmington Anti-Slavery Society’s founding members had been Horace Cowles. Horace and his wife, Mary Anne Steele Smith Cowles had a large family. Among their ten children was their daughter Charlotte Cowles. During the heart of the Farmington abolitionist movement,…

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Selah Hart: Saint and Sinner

Selah Hart: Saint and Sinner

Author: Christopher Menapace In 1777, Selah Hart was sitting in prison, captured by British forces in battle, while at the same time his slave Pharaoh was attacking General Howe’s British forces in Germantown, Pennsylvania. These two men were fighting for America’s freedom, yet only one of them was free.  Born in Farmington, Connecticut in 1732 to Nathaniel Hart and Abigail Hooker, Selah Hart was raised in a wealthy and prominent family.  The Harts were influential members of their community, so…

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Exploring Connecticut and the Slave Trade: April 21 Event

Exploring Connecticut and the Slave Trade: April 21 Event

Exploring Connecticut and the Slave Trade When: Tuesday, April 21, 12pm – 1pm Where: Connecticut’s Old State House, 800 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103, United States (map) Join acclaimed writer and independent historian, Anne Farrow, as she discusses her new book, “The Logbooks Connecticut’s Slave Ships and Human Memory.” Farrow has spent the last decade exploring the content and the meaning of a set of 18th-century New London slave ships’ logbooks. Her book explores the Africa’s (a slave ship) three voyages in…

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