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Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee, Liverpool Mercury
"On the first of the present month of August, 1811, a vessel
"arrived at Liverpool, with a cargo from Sierra Leone, the
"owner, master, mate, and whole crew of which are free
"Negroes. The master, who is also owner, is the son of an
"American Slave, and is said to be very well skilled both in
"trade and navigation, as well as to be of a very pious and
"moral character. It must have been a strange and ani-
"mating spectacle to see this free and enlightened Mrican
"entering, as an independent trader, with his black crew,
"into that port which was so lately the nidus of the Slave
"Trade." --Edinb. Review, August, 1811.
We are happy in having an opportunity of confirming the above account, and at
the same time of laying before our readers an authentic memoir of Capt. Paul
Cuffee, the master and owner of the ve~sel above refe"ed to, who sailed from
this port on the 20th ult. with a licence from the British Government, to
prosecute his intended voyage to Sie"a Leone.
THE father of Paul Cuffee, was a native of Mrica, whence he was brought as a
Slave into Massachusetts. - He was there purchased by a person named Slocum,
and remained in slavery a considerable portion of his life.-- He was named
Cuffee, but as it is usual in those parts took the name of Slocum, as expressing
to whom he belonged. Like many of his countrymen he possessed a mind
superior to his condition, and although he was diligent in the business of his
Master and faithful to his interest, yet by great industry and economy he was
enabled to purchase his personal liberty.
At this time the remains of several Indian tribes, who originally possessed the
right of soil, resided in Massachusetts; Cuffee became acquainted with a
woman descended from one of those tribes, named Ruth Moses, and married
her. - He continued in habits of industry and frugality, and soon after wards
purchased a farm of 100 acres in Westport in Massachusetts.
Cuffee and Ruth has a family of ten children. - '(he three eldest sons, David,
Jonathan, and John are farmers in the neighborhood of Westport, filling
respectable situations in society, and endowed with good intellectual capacities.
-- They are all married, and have families to whom they are giving good
educations. Of six daughters four are respectably married, while two remain
single.
Paul was born on the Island of Cutterhunkker, one of the Elizabeth Islands near
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New Bedford, in the year 1759;when he was about 14 years of age his father
died leaving a considerable property in land, but which being at that time
unproductive afforded but little provision for his numerous family, and thus the
care of supporting his mother and sisters devolved upon his brothers and
himself.
At this time Paul conceived that commerce furnished to industry more ample
rewards than agriculture, and he was conscious that he possessed qualities
which under proper culture would enable him to pursue commercial
employments with prospects of success; he therefore entered at the age of 16 as
a common hand on board of a vessel destined to the bay of Mexico, on a
Whaling voyage. His second voyage was to the West Indies; but on his third he
was captured by a British ship during the American war about the year 1776:
after three months detention as a prisoner at New York, he was permitted to
return home to Westport, where owing to the unfortunate continuance of
hostilities he spent about 2 years in his agricultural pursuits. During this
interval Paul and his brother John Cuffee were called on by the Collector of the
district, in which they resided, for the payment of a personal tax. It appeared to
them, that, by the laws of the constitution of Massachusetts, taxation and the
whole rights of citizenship were untied. - If the laws demanded of them the
payment of personal taxes, the same laws must necessarily and constitutionally
invest them with the rights of representing, and being represented, in the state
Legislature. But they had never been considered as entitled to the privilege of
voting at Elections, nor of being elected to places of trust and honor. - Under
these circumstances, they refused payment of the demands. -- The Collector
resorted to the force of the laws, and after many delays and vexations, Paul and
his brother deemed it most prudent to silence the suit by payment of the
demands. But they resolved, if it were possible, to obtain the rights which they
believed to be connected with taxation.
From the Collections of the Library of Congress
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WGBH I PBS Online I~
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f\IflCanS In f\Illencw ran .)I1V.leUIVl1 V1 ~(1IJLiUll r (1Ul ~UH~~, 1 V~1 jJUUl ~.I.~ .lUvl,",Ul J ~/.I.~ This shows a different story from what they teach in school these days... Huh! Got some homework for you if you are up to the truth: Read all of these books and get a better well rounded view of this period of history: 1) "Myths of American Slavery" ,by Walter Kennedy, Pelican Publishing Company Copyright 2003... This book rambles a little but covers the main, an over all view of the operation and conditions during this period of American history... A good book for facts, a little redundant on some points of view, but gives a good narrative, on the condition of slavery in the United States... 2) "Black Slave Owners"; by Larry Koger, McFarland & Co, Inc Publishers Jefferson, N.C. and London. This is from compiled records of Free Black slave owners in South Carolina, from 1790 to 1860... A different view of the Slave issue in the southland....
3) "Her stories" , by Virginia Hamilton, Blue Sky Press, An Imprint of Scholastic, Inc. NYC, NY, zip 10012, Printed 1995. Has many Negro/ Black tales during the 1800 s, and give a good view of some of the missing history from that period... It is a collection of very short stories, very good quality and content...
4) Historical notes from www.gastateparks.org and www.friendsofsweetwatercreek.org ....
This Georgia State Park, has a good narrative on the conditions during the 1800 s and offers some insight into the every day working of that era of the Ga. society... A interesting historical fact that took place here; when the Union Calvary came in July 1864, they burned the mill, which was producing cloth for the Confederate Troops.... That in itself was the normal Yankee deed, destroy and disable... So that many buildings were burned during the war... But, what was unusual was that they arrested the mostly women workers, and had them shipped by rail to several Northern cities, most never to be seen again... Many husbands, and other family members, looked but never found them... Generally the Union army left the local civilians alone... The big question here was WHY?? Another incident in that terrible war....
5) "Forced into Glory, Abraham Lincoln's White Dream, " by Lerone Bennett, Jr. - Johnson Publishing Company, Chicago, 2000. This book looks at the real purposes of Lincoln, to move the US toward an ethnic cleaning and " If Lincoln had had his way, there would be no Blacks in America. None." Chap. 10 first line on pp 215... Now that is not what the NAACP or the Liberal Leaders would tell you today... Maybe they just did not read far enought... Huh!! or else someone must have misunderstood the whole thing... DUH!!
A special note: One important note is that even after the "Surrender" as the Negroes called the end of the War between the States, many of the relationships and intercourse between the Blacks and Whites continued.... One story of interest, is that just north of the New Manchester Mill where the park is located, there was a lumber / brick operation ran by a white man named Fergurson... Mr. Ferguson's mill used slave labor, as many did in those days... It may be noted that the Negroes were given some Independence to perform tasks and earn money... Well even after the end of the war, it is reported that, most of the former slaves stayed on with worked at Ferguson's Mill, until he died at the age of 94, in the late 1880 s... This was a common occurrence in the South... It demonstrated that most of the relationships between the races was not hostile... Many of the former slaves had in many instances became part of the extended families of the whites... Over the coming years, it became apparent that it took many years to get most of the former slaves, in positions where they could function in the society as a whole... BTW: Many of the former Black slaves and their decedents continued to stay on and work, with and for White folks... An example was, "Willie" the Black, house keeper Nanny, who helped raise my mother in the 1920 s, in south Georgia... Mother told me that they used to have Willie, come with them when they went on vacation in the mountains of North Carolinia... Then in the 1960 s when my mother, went back to visit, Willie came over to the house and fixed breakfast & look after them for them... We are talking about a black woman in her sixties.... This was love... A very close relationship... HUH! In the movie " The Outlaw Josie Wells," played by Clint Eastwood; comes into a bar where two Texas Ranger, along with his turn coat former Confederate commander sit... They were looking for him, a couple of the local citizens, introduce, Clint as Mr. Wilson.... Then telling of hearing; that the outlaw had been killed down in Mexico, in a shoot out... Coming out the door, his former commander, ask Clint, " What do you think, Mr. Wilson" knowing full well who he was... The reply was a truth and classic answer on the war.... "Well a lot of good men died in that war... " Over 600,000 men died in the War between the States, more than all the other wars the US has fought put together.... Very interesting, fact... Huh! 
The New Manchester factory ruins 2005