Sarah

According to emancipation papers filed with the Town of Windsor and reprinted in Jabez Haskell Hayden’s 1915 Historical Sketches, Sarah was “in her 34th year” in 1800.1 Enslaved before 1795 by Jonathan Butler of Hartford, Sarah probably worked alongside two other women enslaved by Butler. They are named in documents as Peggy Butler and Delira Butler.2 Because these two women were known by the last name of their enslaver, it could be reasoned that Sarah was as well; evidence confirming this remains elusive.

Sold to Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee, Sr. of Windsor in 1795, Sarah shared duties in this household with two enslaved women, Betty Stevenson and Betty's mother.3 Sarah had at least two children, Fanny Libbet, who was born in Hartford while Sarah was enslaved by Butler, and an infant noted but unnamed in Windsor Church records. This four-month old child, who, according to Connecticut law was designated as an enslaved person at birth, passed away a mere month before Sarah's emancipation on September 15, 1800.4

After her emancipation, Sarah's life story is not well documented in local records. The Windsor Church records note the death of Sarah, a black woman aged 52, on May 28, 1817.5 More specific information is known about Sarah’s daughter, Fanny. Fanny moved to Windsor in 1800, possibly to live closer to her newly emancipated mother. In 1817, the town of Windsor brought a suit against Hartford for the cost of supporting Fanny Libbet and her two children; this suggests that Fanny had fallen on difficult financial circumstances. At that time, towns were required to support resident paupers, and it was not uncommon for more economically vulnerable people to move in search of work or family. In Fanny's case, Windsor hoped to prove that Hartford was her place of "legal settlement" and therefore free itself from financial responsibility even while Fanny lived in Windsor.6

1. Jabez Haskell Hayden, Historical Sketches, Windsor Locks, CT: Windsor Locks Journal, 1915, 77-78.

2. Barbara J. Beeching, "African Americans and Native Americans in Hartford 1636-1800: Antecedents of Hartford’s Nineteenth Century Black Community" (1993). Hartford Studies Collection: Papers by Students and Faculty. 7.
https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/hartford_papers/7.

3. Christina Vida, Remembering Sarah - Windsor Historical Society 2011.

4. Windsor First Congregational Church Records, Vol. 3, 1639-1932, “Deaths”, 95. (August 17, 1800). Church records (familysearch.org)

5. Windsor First Congregational Church Records, Vol. 3, 1639-1932, “Deaths”, 102 (May 28, 1817). Church records (familysearch.org)

6. David Menschel, “Abolition without Deliverance: The Law of Connecticut Slavery 1784-1848” The Yale Law Journal. (Oct., 2001), 183-222.

Sarah’s Manumission Paper, 1800. Reprinted in Jabez Haskell Hayden, Historical Sketches, pages 77-78.