Quock Walker
Quock was born the child of Mingo and Dinah in 1754, it was later said that he was only nine months old when he was purchased by James Caldwell. Not much is known specifically about Quock’s young life. In 1755 there was only two slaves living in Rutland District, John Caldwell, James brother, submitted the data to the colony officials [1]. Only a total of .8% of people living in the larger Worcester County by 1756 were listed as “Negros” [2]. The rugged terrain, finicky soil, and dense woodlands made Massachusetts less able to accommodate the sprawling plantation farms of the south that called upon the services of hundreds of slaves. Typically, New England farmers would own only a few slaves with larger slave populations living in the larger cities. In the same 1754 census Boston accounted for just under one-thousand slaves.
At the time of James’ death, he owned eight slaves including an adult male, an adult female and five children [3]. Four years later, Quock with the rest of the remaining slaves became dowry to widow Isabel who remarried Nathaniel Jennison, also of Barre, in 1769. Quock testified in court that he was promised manumission at the age of twenty-five by James before his death and then Isabel again afterwards. Isabel passed away in 1773, leaving Quock bonded to Nathaniel Jennison. Quock labored for Jennison through the Revolutionary War and turned twenty-five in 1779. Within two years of his twenty-fifth birthday, Quock Walker brought Jennison to court on charges of unlawful abuse and imprisonment. Quock testified that he was legally able to leave the Jennison farm at twenty-five and chose to seek work and wages with the brothers of his former owner, James Caldwell. Once Jennison discovered Quock was working for the Caldwell’s he sent men across town to beat and drag Quock back “home” where they locked him up in a shed for several hours.[4] The three cases that came before the court and address matters between Quock, Jennison, and the Caldwell brothers have become known as, “The Quock Walker Cases”. It is within these hearings that Justice William Cushing made the groundbreaking statement that, “…there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational Creature ...”[5]. Scholars have been skeptical of this cut and dry solution to the end of slavery in the Bay State, however it is the narrative that has been most adopted through oral histories and broad scholarship on slavery in the US.
The Quock Walker Cases certainly highlight the social and political standing of slaves in Massachusetts at the end of the 18th century. The ability of Quock to solicit the representation of Levi Lincoln, who later became Attorney General under Jefferson and Caleb Strong who later became Governor, exhibits that he did have the means to travel, write to and engage these men. Examples are found of slaves gaining freedom either through the last wills of their masters, manumissions when a certain age was reached, and through court hearings just like Quock’s. About thirty cases before Quock appeared in Massachusetts where a slave plaintiff argued legal reason for their freedom. The free population of former slaves and people of color in Massachusetts is hard to determine but even over two hundred years later, the US Census of 1900 counted less than 1% of the population of central Massachusetts as “negro”.[6]
The life events of Quock following these trials are little known, only a few primary source documents exist that point to the type of man Quock was and what life was like for him as a freeman. He decided to stay in Barre where he married Elizabeth Harvey. Other signs of Quock in land, census and vital records are much scarcer. To fully understand his adulthood may never be possible. Yet, with rapidly progressing digitization and cataloging projects, more information is likely to be discovered in the next decade. Vital records, court documents, journals and letters may lead to serious advances in the academic’s and public’s understanding of Quock’s story.
Quock only shows in one US Census as a free man and is listed in 1790 as “Quako Walke” living in Barre with three free white females. Though it is more likely that the “3” should have been placed in the adjacent column for “All other free persons”. Not only has his name been spelled wrong, making it difficult to find him in Boolean searches but his household information is also likely in correct. Data errors can affect larger statistics and larger story when such resources are so few. Weather the data entry was in fact incorrect, there were under fifty other free people of color living in Barre which is around 2% of the overall population [7]. In the 1790 census, a column for “slave” was provided though it was not used when the census was taken. This points that either the entire population of Massachusetts knew that slavery was illegal and reported their slaves as “other free people”, or that the census takers were told not to use this column before they even set out to collect data. The free population of Barre rose over the next decade and by 1800 there were seventy-one “blacks” living in the town. Quock is noticeably missing from the 1800 census. It is possible that he passed away between 1790 and 1800, he certainly had passed before 1812 when his wife sold off his land.
Records show that Quock bought land in 1784, less than a year after gaining his freedom. He purchased a plot of land in Barre for ten pounds, from a Francis Nurss. The deed makes note that Quock is a “negro man”. Quock intended to stay in his native Barre, he wanted to exhibit and exercise his freedom and quickly got to work securing land for himself. He had the cash needed to purchase the land perhaps from the fifty pounds he sued Jennison for. He also had ample opportunity to earn wages from the Caldwell brothers, if he has been working for them throughout the trials. What is certainly notable is that the grantor of the plot was willing to sell this lot to a “negro man” showing that he was comfortable affording Quock the opportunity to become a landowning member of the rural community. The description of Quock’s race, and the race of other FPOC are frequently noted in vital records, which can be helpful for researchers but shows the remaining trend that they were a category of their own.
The inconsistencies and lack of information regarding the free life of Quock Walker, who played a pivotal role in abolition, is a perfect example of the lack of minorities history. Though Quock is a famous character in the history of Massachusetts, little research has been conducted to unearth the story of his life. There are no records to indicate if he had children or where and when he died. Everything that can be learned about Quock’s life as a free man is gathered from the periphery. From his land deeds and trial notes small glimpses are seen into his existence, but certainly not large enough to gain a complete understanding.
[1] “The 1754 Massachusetts Slave Census”, Massachusetts State Archives, https://primaryresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/1754_slave_census.pdf.
[2] Lorenzo Greene, The Negro in Colonial New England, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942), Appendix A.
[3] Worcester County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1731-1881, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)
[4] Legal notes by William Cushing about the Quock Walker case, 1783, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/database/630.
[5] Legal notes by William Cushing about the Quock Walker case, 1783, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/database/630.
[6] Bureau of the Census, Negro Population 1790-1915 (1918), https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1918/dec/negro-population-1790-1915.html
[7] "United States Census, 1790." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 7 February 2021. Citing NARA microfilm publication M637. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
Elizabeth (Harvey)Walker
Details regarding the life of Elizabeth Walker are scarce. Her race and gender restricted the types of information that was recorded regarding her movements, life, and death. Church records show her marriage to Quock Walker in 1786 and lists her maiden name as Harvey. It also states that she was from Barre. Vital records from Barre and Rutland do not show any other Harvey’s being born, marrying, or dying in the town in the mid to late 1700’s. It is likely that, like Quock, Elizabeth chose her own surname.
To modern scholars, Quock winning his freedom in 1783 marked the end of slavery within the state. However, it is important to remember how news travelled during this era. The words scribed by Chief Justice William Cushing regarding his thoughts on the trial stated, “there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature”.[1] These notes, and the freeing of Quock certainly was not spread through massive news channels that weaved through every town and district in the state. No, news and changes like this would be slow to spread and even slower for slave owners to accept. In fact, it was not recognized that slavery was ever legally permitted in the colony or state of Massachusetts. Moreover, nearly thirty slaves won their freedom through judiciary channels in 18th century Massachusetts. Others became famous for their suits, including “Mum Bett” of Stockbridge, Massachusetts who was the first slave woman to sue for and win her freedom. Her trial ran simultaneously with Quock’s in 1781. Both were won on the grounds that the new Massachusetts Constitution (1780) outlawed slavery.
All this to say that by the time of their marriage in 1786, slavery was more widely believed to be unlawful but not fully accepted by all. During the years immediately following Quock’s cases many chose to sell their slaves to other states and even countries to squeeze final profits from them before they must be freed. Others, like Mum Bett’s former Master, offered to pay the former slaves a pittance for their labor, thereby finding a way keep them within their reign.
It is unlikely that Quock and Elizabeth bore children. In 1812, Elizabeth sold land to William Robinson of Barre. This same land had been purchased by Quock in 1786, on the deed Elizabeth is listed as a widow. Also included on the land deed are five others, likely Quock’s siblings: Steph Walker, Priscilla Walker, Peter Luis and wife Miner Luis, William Ebit and wife Sarah Ebit and Prince Walker [2]. For a total of thirty dollars they sold the land, split equally would have only amounted to less than four dollars each. Elizabeth had called that property home for twenty-six years—now, landless and with only a few dollars gained, she likely spent the rest of her days as a boarder.
There is, within church records, an entry for the death of an Elizabeth Walker, a “negress” in 1830 [3]. The surname “Walker” on her death record shows that Elizabeth did not remarry. After the sale of her late husband’s land, no other land or census records exist to show where or how she lived out her last twenty years. Perhaps she found lodging with one of Quock’s siblings or she had her own family who lived locally. Information regarding Elizabeth’s final resting place is still unknown.
[1] Legal notes by William Cushing about the Quock Walker case, 1783, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/database/630.
[2] Walker to Robinson, Worcester Country Registry of Deeds, book 274, page 11.
[3] Barre Town Vital Records