Slavery in Connecticut: Venture Smith’s Remarkable Life
March 11, 2017
Venture Smith Resources
March 11, 2017

Venture Smith’s Remarkable Life

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One terrible day in about 1736, a young boy’s life was changed forever. The boy was named Broteer. He lived in Dukandarra in West Africa (probably in the area today called Ghana.) His father was a leader of his village.

On that day, his village was attacked. His father was killed. Broteer was taken from his family and sold into slavery. He was about eight or nine years old. We know his story because many years later he published it in a remarkable book.

An officer on an American slave ship bought Broteer. He paid for Broteer with four gallons of rum and a piece of calico cloth. He gave Broteer a new name: Venture.

While at sea, many people got sick with smallpox and died. Venture survived.

Venture was taken to the Mumford’s farm on Fishers Island. Though just a boy, Venture had to work hard. He was not paid for his work. If he did not do the work, he was punished. He was considered his enslaver’s property, like a cow or a coat. He worked with about a dozen other enslaved people. They worked on a large farm that raised sheep and dairy cows.

Venture grew to be a young man. He married Meg. Meg was also enslaved. Venture tried to run away to freedom. But his enslaver, Captain Mumford, put a notice in the newspaper. The notice described Venture as “a very tall fellow” with “thick square shoulders.” Venture decided to return to his wife.

Soon after, Venture and Meg had a daughter named Hannah. As the daughter of enslaved people, Hannah was enslaved, too.

Mumford sold Venture to Thomas Stanton. His new master lived in Stonington, Connecticut. Venture was separated from his family. Slave owners often separated enslaved families. This was cruel.

A year later Stanton purchased Meg. Venture was reunited with his wife, but Hannah was still owned by Mumford. He and Meg had two more children, named Solomon and Cuff. Solomon and Cuff were also enslaved.

One day, Venture got in the middle of an argument between Meg and Stanton’s wife. Stanton beat Venture. He stole the money Venture and Meg had saved to buy their freedom. Venture complained to the local authorities. But they did not help him.

A few years later Venture was sold away from his family again. Oliver Smith, a Stonington merchant, bought him. Smith allowed Venture to work at other jobs for pay. Venture could keep some of the money he earned but had to give some to Smith. Venture wanted to earn enough money to buy his freedom. He wanted to buy his family’s freedom too.

In 1765, Venture reached his goal. He purchased his freedom and then his family’s freedom. He took Oliver Smith’s last name as his own.

Venture’s first piece of land was within what is now Barn Island Wildlife Area

Venture worked harder than ever. He worked as a sailor on a whaling ship. He worked as a fisherman. He cut wood. In 1770, Venture bought 26 acres of land next to Thomas Stanton’s land. He sold this land in 1775 and bought a piece of land in Haddam Neck. Within a few years, he had bought more than 100 acres. He brought his family together. He was a farmer, fisherman, and trader along the Connecticut River and the east end of Long Island.

Venture was proud of his success. But he was also angry about the injustice he and his family endured. Venture fought against slavery until he died in 1805. He purchased freedom for other enslaved people in Connecticut.

He told his life story in A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa, which was published in 1798. Connecticut began to slowly free its enslaved people with the Gradual Emancipation Act in 1784.

In his book Venture Smith wrote:

…But amidst all my griefs and pains, I have many consolations: Meg, the wife of my youth, whom I married for love and bought with my money, is still alive. My freedom is a privilege which nothing else can equal. Notwithstanding all the losses I have suffered by fire, by the injustice of knaves, by cruelty of my own countrymen whom I have assisted and redeemed from bondage, I am now possessed of more than one hundred acres of land, and three habitable dwelling houses. It gives me joy to think that I have and that I deserve so good a character, especially for truth and integrity.

Venture Smith Day is celebrated annually in September in East Haddam. Here, Smith’s descendants pose for a picture, 2009. Paula Moody Foster, David Warmsley, Corrine Henry-Brady, Susanne Henry Ryan, Angelina Henry Perron, Florence Warmsley, Elaine Warmsley, Tiarra Jackson, Simone Winston, and Zimion Winston. photo: John J. Spaulding. Courtesy of the First Church Cemetery Association, Inc. Connecticut Explored, Winter 2012-2013

Venture Smith left an important historical record. Today his life is celebrated in East Haddam at the annual Venture Smith Day in September. An archaeological dig rediscovered the location of his first piece of property in what is now the State of Connecticut Barn Island Wildlife Management Area. His grave is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail.

 

This essay is based on “Venture Smith, from Slavery to Freedom” by John Wood Sweet, African American Connecticut Explored (Wesleyan University Press, 2014) and “Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa” by Gene Leach, Connecticut Explored, Winter 2012/2013, and Venture Smith’s Colonial Connecticut, CTExplored’s social studies resource for grades 5 – 8.

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