Sue Wells

Bio

Sue was originally enslaved by a man from Connecticut. She married a formerly enslaved man named Peter Wells and the following story of her acquisition by Peter comes from the History of the Town of Ashfield (Frederick G. Howes and Rev. Dr. Thomas Shepard, 1834, p. 142)

Peter asked Sue's master what he would take for her. The master says, "You can take her and pay me what you are a mind to, something to answer the law." Peter took her and paid two coppers. (p. 142)

Soon after, the couple moved to Ashfield, Massachusetts, where Peter bought a houselot on a hill. The couple had three childen- Jupeter (Jube), birthdate unknown; Sukey, born in 1781; and Nancy, born in 1783.

Something of Sue's character can be learned from the following quotes from the History of the Town of Ashfield, p. 142:

Sue was a good cook and a great scold. She would say of Peter, 'Poor cretur, without a head.' When soundly berated, Peter would sometimes say, 'I didn't give but two coppers for ye, and ye ain't wuth that.' Sue did service for her neighbors, raised nice garden seeds to give them, and made gingerbread for public occasions. Uncle Alvan Hall, when nearly a centenarian, used to say, 'I've eaten Sue's gingerbread at trainings, and I tell you it was good, too.' 

Sue died on September 26, 1828, at about the age of 85.