Paul Cuffe

Paul Cuffe was born on Cuttyhunk Island, at the west end of the Elizabeth Islands chain in Massachusetts, on January 17, 1759. He was the seventh child and fourth son of Cuff Slocum, an emancipated slave from West Africa, and Ruth Moses, a Native American woman from Cape Cod. The family lived on Cuttyhunk for about 15 years where they interacted with Wampanoag neighbors on the Elizabeth Islands and Martha’s Vineyard and managed the properties of the Slocum families from Dartmouth that were used mainly for grazing sheep in the warmer months. Their ten children all lived well into their adult years, a remarkable record for that time. Paul’s parents saved enough of their earnings to purchase an existing 116-acre farm in the mainland town of Dartmouth to which the family moved in the spring of 1767 and lived there together until 1772 when Paul’s father died. Cuff Slocum bequeathed this farm to his two younger sons, John and Paul, and it remained in their possession for the next half century. But in 1773 Paul initiated his seafaring life as a 14-year-old crew member on a whaling voyage to the West Indies leaving management of the farm to his older brother. After again crewing on whaling ships in 1775 and 1776 and being taken prisoner by the British Navy on the latter voyage and held in a jail in New York harbor for 3 months, Paul took up the challenge of penetrating the British blockade to deliver needed supplies to the residents of Nantucket throughout the rest of the war years. He lost his small boat and supplies to pirates on at least one occasion but succeeded on many crossings in the dark of moonless nights and, in the process, built up relationships with leading families of Nantucket Quakers, such as William Rotch, Sr. and Jr., who became important friends and business partners throughout his life. In 1780, Paul, aged 21, and his brother John, 23, joined four free African American friends in petitioning the Massachusetts Legislature to grant them the right to vote. The petition was denied by the House of Representatives but was subsequently incorporated into the State’s new constitution that only required property ownership to qualify men to vote. That same year, Paul and John were jailed for a few days for not paying town taxes on their property but were rescued by a prominent local citizen, Walter Spooner, who helped negotiate a reasonable settlement. In the latter half of the 1790s, realizing the benefits of their successful trading business, both Paul Cuffe and Michael Wainer established permanent residences for their families on nearby properties along the East Branch. Paul built a substantial house next to his shipyard, and Michael Wainer acquired a 100-acre property a quarter mile to the south that had been the homestead of the Eddy family and already contained a sizeable house. Paul Cuffe became one of the wealthiest persons of color in the United States and he used his wealth to support local activities such as a smallpox hospital, an integrated school and many people in difficulty no matter what their ethnic or racial background. His landholdings and shipbuilding in Westport were extensive and he partnered with the white community as well as with persons of color in Westport and elsewhere. As Paul Cuffe expanded his commercial dealings around the Atlantic Ocean, he became increasingly engaged with Quaker businessmen and Abolitionist leaders in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and London. The British Abolitionists in particular saw Paul Cuffe, a prominent black entrepreneur and humanitarian, as a potential ally in their efforts to create a successful colony for the freed slaves from both America and England who had already been transported to the African territory of Sierra Leone. This colony had been established in 1791 by England to provide a home for slaves who had sought freedom by taking refuge with British forces during the Revolutionary War. They had been transplanted first to Nova Scotia when the Brit