Amos was the son of Peter and Azubah Newport of Hatfield, Massachusetts. He lost his mother in 1775, giving birth to a sister who died as well. The family was enslaved by Joseph Billings, who stipulated in his 1781 will that "the children of the said Peter, to wit Jonah, Peter, Eliphalet and Amos, shall be manumitted and set free as soon as they shall arrive, respectively, at the age of twenty-one years; in the mean time they shall be subjected to, under the control of, and in the immediate service of, my aforesaid loving cousins David Billing and Silas Billing." Joseph Billings died in 1783, when Amos would have been about 12.
In 1779, while still enslaved, Amos's father remarried and purchased land from David Billings in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. He moved his family there to farm. In 1806, Amos bought land and a small house in Hatfield from his older brother Jonah. This might have been where the two brothers had been living. That same year Amos married Melita Paine in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. The couple had 10 children born between 1807 and 1831, but only five reached adulthood.
Amos had financial difficulties and did not get along well with others in his community. He was sued four times between 1807 and 1823, and in 1826, he spent two months in jail for criminal assault. He and Melita were having troubles as well. Amos was living in Amherst, Massachusetts by 1844, but it is unknown whether Melita was with him. By 1846, she had taken back her maiden name and purchased her own home.
Amos sold his Hatfield land in 1851, and he and Melita filed for divorce in 1856. Three years later, he died in Amherst of old age.
Sources Consulted
"'His Own Proper Negro Slave': Amos Newport & his Descendants in Hatfield, Williamsburg & Amherst", Eric W. Weber, 2014