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https://revolutionhappenedhere.org/files/original/580adb6fd7d070824d8dc889b6f9db18.jpg
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Historic Northampton
Description
An account of the resource
<span>Historic Northampton focuses on local history and the local community. We preserve objects and documents that illuminate the lives of past residents while creating structures through which contemporary residents can preserve</span><span> and celebrate their own histories in ways that honor both tradition and change.</span><br /><br />46 Bridge Street Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 <a href="https://www.historicnorthampton.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.historicnorthampton.org</a>, info@historicnorthampton.org, 413-584-6011
Revolution Happened Here
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Story
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The house in this photo may no longer stand on King Street in Northampton, but the stories of the people who lived there remain. When Mary and Timothy Dwight built this house in 1751, they were a young couple embarking on their new life together. For 20 years, the Dwights navigated Timothy’s career as a merchant and a judge, and raised their thirteen children. At some point during this period, they enslaved a woman named Sylvia Church. The Dwights’ imposing house was renovated in the late the 19th century and would stand until 1905, when it was pulled down to build a school.
During the American Revolution, Timothy left Northampton to deal with a land investment in Mississippi, and died there in 1777. Before his death, Timothy had been a loyalist and that position dogged his wife and children even after he left. Mary was a loyalist herself, which fueled the resentment of those who disagreed with her politically. Her fields were burned, her livestock run off her land, and one of her children was bullied so much that he no longer wanted to attend school.
Mary Dwight was an intelligent woman with a mercurial temperament, a force of nature in her household and her community. Lewis Tappan, who grew up playing on this house’s grounds (much to Mary’s chagrin), remembered that she gave strict orders and saw that they were obeyed.
Tappan’s recollections also shed light on the other adult woman who lived in the house during the Revolution: Sylvia Church. Lewis Tappan recalled that when he and the other neighborhood children would be scolded by Mary, Sylvia Church would hide them from her until they weren’t scared.
This remembrance is important, because glimpses of Sylvia Church’s life are few and far between. She was probably born in Africa around 1754, and by the Revolution she had been enslaved for over half her life. She remained in this house for years after she technically had her freedom when Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783. Like so many people who were enslaved, legally obtaining her freedom did not remove her from the people who had enslaved her or the house where she was enslaved.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The Loyalist House on King Street
Contributor
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Historic Northampton
Type
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Photo/Postcard
Description
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Sepia-toned B/W photograph of the Dwight-Fisk home on King Street, Northampton, MA.
Source
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Historic Northampton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1751
enslaved
loyalist
slavery
women
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https://revolutionhappenedhere.org/files/original/594ab171c25cc2d64ba738107ddfa064.jpg
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https://revolutionhappenedhere.org/files/original/10be88ece96b0ccc8090e05493c30028.jpg
ccabde811bcf9870d052d429d46ff19b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Bill of Sale for Caesar Phelps
Description
An account of the resource
Single page manuscript documenting the sale of Caesar Phelps to Charles Phelps, Jr.
Source
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Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1770
Contributor
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Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
Identifier
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N/A (Box 4, Folder 15)
Dublin Core
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Title
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The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
Description
An account of the resource
<img src="https://rhh.reclaim.hosting/themes/rhh-berlin/images/contributor-images/PPH-museum.jpg" width="400" alt="PPH-museum.jpg" />
<p>The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is a unique historical resource in Hadley, Massachusetts. Its significance goes beyond the well-preserved eighteenth century architecture of the house itself: the house was continuously occupied by a single family from its construction in 1752 until the death of Dr. James Lincoln Huntington, the museum’s founder. The house contains the family’s belongings accumulated and preserved over 300 years. The family also left a rich collection of personal letters, diaries and account books, photographs and other material. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers are now housed at Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. The house was the heart of the large farmstead known as "Forty Acres" that included over 600 acres stretching from the banks of the Connecticut River to the top of Mount Warner, in North Hadley. Today, the house is surrounded by over 350 acres of protected farmland land, forest, and river frontage retaining its original rural setting. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is located on the National Tri-State Connecticut River Scenic Farm Byway.</p>
<p>Location:</p>
<p>The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum<br />130 River Drive<br />Hadley, MA 01035<br /><br />Phone: (413) 584-4699<br />Website: <a href="https://www.pphmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Visit the Museum's website</a><br />Email: <a href="mailto:pphmuseumassistant@gmail.com">pphmuseumassistant@gmail.com</a></p>
Revolution Happened Here
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Story
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Within the collection of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in Hadley, Massachusetts, is a letter from a soldier stationed at Fort Ticonderoga, New York, in 1776. The letter, written by a man named Caesar Phelps, is quite brief. Nevertheless, it recounts the Revolution from a very important and often underrepresented point of view.<br /><br />After its famous capture by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold in 1775, the Americans put a great deal of effort into upgrading Ticonderoga’s defenses throughout the following year; Caesar was likely engaged in this work during his time there. The fort represented a strategic prize, and the Americans were determined not to lose it. Despite their efforts, the British managed to capture Ticonderoga without firing a shot in July of 1777, and held it until fighting subsided in the area following the surrender of General John Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga later that fall. Caesar Phelps’ voice is remarkable among the troops at Ticonderoga for the fact that he was enslaved. The only known record of Caesar’s time at the fort is brief— consisting of this single letter.<br />
<p>Prior to arriving at Fort Ticonderoga, Caesar lived and worked at a vast estate known as Forty Acres in Hadley, Massachusetts. His enslaver, Charles Phelps, Jr, was a man of high status in the community, and had him sent to fight in his place. It was common for white men, when called up to serve in the army, to send their enslaved servants as a substitute. Though they would receive the same wages as their white counterparts, they were required to give half or more to their owner. Caesar wrote to Charles in September of 1776, complaining that he had not received his wages. While lack of pay was frequently an issue for American soldiers during the Revolution, Caesar’s poignant letter reveals the complicated and precarious nature of his life as an enslaved person. He strives for some control over his living situation and meager personal possessions even as he acknowledges his status and that Charles has the power to sell him at any time.</p>
The “stock and buckel” Caesar requests in his letter would have been his neck stock and buckle, a clasp that held a tightly wrapped piece of fabric around the neck. They would have been some or all of the possessions he would have been able to own. Enslaved persons were able to purchase small items like this, usually with the exchange of labor.<br /><br />Though the letter is signed “Sezor,” it is unknown whether or not he penned it himself, or dictated it to a fellow literate soldier. Regardless, it is his voice. Unfortunately, known historical records of Caesar end with this letter. Whether he died at Ticonderoga, returned to Forty Acres to find that he had been sold, or gained his freedom, we do not know. Today, Forty Acres has been preserved as the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum in Hadley. Caesar’s letter is a small, but important part of its vast collection— one that serves as a rare voice for those who were so often voiceless during this time period. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.pphmuseum.org/slavery-and-servitude-at-forty-acres-blog/2018/6/27/caesar-phelps" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click this link to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum website</a> to find more about Caesar and his life at Forty Acres.
Date Sort
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1776-09-30
Text
A text transcription of the manuscript
Camp Ft Ticonderoga Sept the 30th 1776
Sir I take this opportunity to Enform you that I dont Entend to Live with Capt Cranston if I can helpit and I Would Be glad if you Would Send me a letter that I may git my Wagers for I have not got any of my Wagers and I Want to know how all the Folks Do at home and I desire yor Prayers for me While in the Sarves and if you Determin to Sel me I Want you Shud Send me my Stock and Buckel. So no more at Present But I remain your Ever Faithful Slave
Sezor Phelps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Letter from Caesar Phelps to Charles Phelps, Jr
Description
An account of the resource
Single page manuscript written by Caesar Phelps to his enslaver Charles Phelps, Jr
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September 30, 1776
Contributor
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Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
Type
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Manuscript
Identifier
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The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers on deposit at Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. Box 4, Folder 12
Subject
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Minorities' Experience
Publisher
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Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum
African American
enslaved
Fort Ticonderoga
soldier