Tatnai Prince

Bio

Tatnai Prince (1765-1820) was the fifth of six children born to Abijah and Lucy Terry Prince of Deerfield, Massachusetts, a free African American couple, both of whom had once been enslaved. About ten years after Tatnai's birth, the family moved to land they owned in Guilford, Vermont.

Tatnai was 14 years old in 1779 when he and his 10-year-old brother Abijah, Jr. were attacked by John Stanton, a relative of John Noyes, who lived nearby. It was reported that the boys were beaten with "Staves Sticks &c." (Gretchen Gerzina, Mr. and Mrs. Prince, p. 146). In April of 1782, after Abijah, Sr. had filed charges against Stanton, John Noyes and another relative cut down some of the Prince's trees and broke down their fences, allowing cows and pigs access to the corn, flax, potatoes, and hayfield. In 1785, Lucy Prince argued her family's case in court before Governor Thomas Chittenden, and won. The council's resolve is below:

On the Representation of Lucy Prince, wife of Abijah Prince, and others shewing that, the said Abijah, Lucy and Family, are greatly oppresses & injured by John and Ormas Noyce, in the possession and enjoyment of a certain farm or Piece of Land, on which the said Abijah and Lucy now Lives, the Council having Taken the same into consideration and made due enquiry, are of Opinion that the said Abijah and Lucy are much injured, and that unless the Town take some Methods to protect said Abijah, Lucy & family in the enjoyment of their possession, they must soon unavoidably fall upon the Charity of the Town.

      Therefore Resolved that His Excellency be Requested to write to the Selectmen of the Town of Guilford Recommending to them to Take some effectual Measures to protect the said Abijah, Lucy & family in the Possession of said Lands until the said dispute can be equally & equitably settled. 

A town history of Guilford published in 1961 includes the information that Tatnai lived in nearby Northfield, Massachusetts, in the household of "Capt. E. Hunt." (Official history of Guilford, Vermont, 1678-1961, 1961, p. 146.) This referred to Captain Elisha Hunt of Northfield (1740-1810), son of Samuel Hunt. Phinehas Field (1799-1884) included anecdotes and first-hand recollections of Tatnai in Northfield in an 1875 essay on slavery in New England. ("Slavery in New England," published in History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Vol. 1, p. 482.)

Tatnai moved about frequently in his later years, mainly among towns in Addison County, Vermont. (Gerzina, Mr. and Mrs. Prince, pp. 179-180; 194.) In 1800 he was working for a man in Manchester, Vermont, who died owing Tatnai money. He then moved to nearby Vergennes to work with his older brother Caesar. From there, Tatnai moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where he appeared in the Federal Census for 1810, living alone. Sometime between 1810 and 1820, he was in Sunderland, Vermont, where his mother, Caesar, and two sisters were living (about 7 miles south of Manchester). In 1820, Tatnai appeared in the Federal Census as a resident of Middlebury, Vermont. Smallpox broke out in the area at that time. Believing he had immunity due to having had the disease already, Tatnai was among those hired to attend to smallpox victims. However, Tatnai contracted smallpox himself soon after cleaning a "pox house" (also known as a "pest house" or "Plague house") and died in 1820, aged 55. (Gerzina, Mr. and Mrs. Prince, p. 194.)

Sources Consulted

Mr. and Mrs. Prince, Gretchen H. Gerzina, 2008, p. 146

Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, ed. and pub. by Authority of the State of Vermont, Vol. III, 1875, p. 66