Festus Prince, Sr.

Bio

Festus was the fourth of six children born to Abijah and Lucy Terry Prince, both of whom had once been enslaved. The Princes were married in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and all of their children were born there. On January 29, 1763, Festus was baptized in Deerfield's church. Sometime after the birth of their last child in 1769, the family moved to Abijah's land in Guilford, Vermont.

According to Dr. Thomas Williams' day book entries for August 1770, Festus was treated twice for a wound.

At the age of 15, Festus joined the militia and then the Continental Army. According to Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution (Vol. 12, pg. 790), Festus stood 6 feet, 3 inches tall and was “reported a negro”. When he was about 16 years old, he moved from Deerfield to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he probably lived with his father's friend, Agrippa Hull.  At age 16, Festus joined the same military company in which Agrippa had served.  He was a self-taught musician and played fife and drum, among his other military duties.

When his service ended, Festus returned to Deerfield, where he worked briefly for a shoemaker.  He also worked as a fiddler for area dances and gatherings. Then, following his father's death in 1794, he moved with his mother and siblings to the family's land in Sunderland, Vermont. In 1797 he and his brother Caesar sued their Sunderland neighbor, Eli Brownson over a dispute about who owned this land. The suit and countersuits dragged on for years, with Festus's mother Lucy helping to argue their case. It was resolved in 1804, with Brownson being allowed to keep the land and the Prince family being awarded $200.  In 1806, after it was finally proven that the Princes did own the land, the town of Sunderland purchased 18 acres of Brownson's land that had originally belonged to the Princes and gave it back to them.

Sometime before 1805, Festus lived in Leicester, Vermont, where he met a White woman, 18-year-old Lucy Holman, whom he would marry.  Before their marriage, though, he was “warned out” of Leicester. In New England towns, people who couldn't support themselves were ordered to leave, so that the town would not have to support them. Festus then moved to Jericho, Vermont and Lucy soon followed.  They were married there in March of 1805.  They moved to Johnson, Vermont, but the family was warned out again on June 11, 1805: 

To either Constable of Johnson in the Co. of Franklin,

Greeting:

You are hereby required to summons Festus Prince (Black man) now residing in Johnson to depart said town.

(History of the Town of Johnson, Vt., 1784-1907, pub. by the Oread Literary Club, pg. 64) 

Where the family lived next is unknown.  Their first child was born in 1806 and in 1807 their son Festus, Jr. was born, and the family moved to the Prince family land in Sunderland. Most likely, Festus built a log cabin there and in 1809, Lucinda was born.  In 1813, Festus moved his family to Cambridge, New York, where they appear on the 1813 census report as a White family.  Lucy must have answered the door and rather than ask, often census takers assumed occupants' race based upon the appearance of the person they interviewed.

In 1817 the family was back in Sunderland, but they were warned out and by 1818, they had moved to Danby Vermont.  In 1820, both Lucy and Festus became ill with smallpox and Festus did not recover.  He died in 1820 or 1821.