Whither Art Thou Gone, My Child…

Kidnapping Free Children of Color and African American Community in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in 1839

In the summer of 1839, a Palmer, Massachusetts man and his adult nephew visited overseers of the poor in towns of central Massachusetts to obtain a “colored boy” allegedly to work in a family store, be paid good wages and be permitted to attend school half-time. They also visited individual households of people of color repeating requests for a “colored boy.” At Lunenburg and at Worcester, they succeeded. The widowed mother of nine-year old Nahum Hazard of Lunenburg and the family of twelve year old Sidney Francis of Worcester thought the employment an opportunity for their sons. What would be been a standard personal arrangement for poorer children, regardless of ethnicity, to serve in white households, became a nightmare for the Hazard and Francis families and many of the region’s African Americans. Working in cooperation with a Virginia slave merchant, the Palmer men took both boys to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where they were found in a “slave pen” before they could be sold. Young Sidney Francis identified himself as an abducted Northern child: he knew his name and his parents’ names, he knew he was from Worcester, Massachusetts and he was able to read and write. Virginia abolitionists pursue the matter. Arrests are made. Virginia officials communicated with the Worcester postmaster. Delegations were sent south to retrieve both boys as well as bring back to the Commonwealth for trial the two Palmer men. An eventual Worcester trial resulted in prison terms.
For presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0elHJjc0U2OdGctR2w5S19IQ1U/view?usp=sharing