Amos Hull, Jr. was the oldest of four children, all born free, to Amos, Sr. and Bathsheba Hull of Northampton, Massachusetts. His father died in 1761, the same year that his sister, Margaret was born.
Bathsheba remarried, but was forced to sell the family's home in an ownership dispute with the town. Her second husband, Philemon Lee, had been "warned out" of Northampton and was in prison in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, for returning to Northampton in defiance of the town's order. In New England towns, people who lacked residential status and who could not support themselves were warned out - ordered to leave - so that the town would not have to support them. Fourteen-year-old Amos, Jr. may have been sent to nearby Hadley and 13-year-old Asaph was placed by the town's Overseers of the Poor in an apprenticeship in Connecticut. Agrippa, age nine, was sent to be fostered by the Binney family- friends of the Hulls - in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Margaret, age 7, stayed in Northampton, but it is unknown whether she was allowed to live with her mother. Bathsheba and her daughter moved first to Springfield and later, to Stockbridge.
Amos joined the military in 1775. In Massachusetts Soldiers & Sailors of the American Revolution (Vol. 8, p. 477) he is described as “negro”, standing 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with a black complexion and "wool" hair. In 1781 he reported that he was 30 years old and living in Hadley, Massachusetts.
While in Capt. Joshua Benson’s company, Amos was issued clothing. A 1777 report shows that he received no coat, 1 vest, 1 pair of breeches, 1 pair of hose (long socks), 2 pairs of shoes, 2 shirts, 1 hat, 2 hunting shirts, no overalls (long pants that covered the shoe tops), no mittens, and 1 blanket, all valued at $37.30. He was to receive $10.30 per day. Reported to have deserted by December, 1777, he returned to his regiment by February, 1778.
Military Service
A diary entry of 1785 from Justus Forward, the Congregational minister of Belchertown, Massachusetts, from 1756-1812 suggests that Amos Hull married an Indigenous woman and moved to that town: “Eunice a Squaw, wife of Amos Hull a Negro man, died at Elisha Root’s house, of a Consumption Aged 36.” This reference to the death of Amos' wife Eunice is the last known reference to Amos Hull.
Sources Consulted
"Extended Biographies of Both Enslaved People and Free Black People" in the "Slavery Research Project" of Historic Northampton (Massachusetts), Slavery Research Project
"Amos and Agrippa Hull" in "Documenting the History of Black Lives in the Connecticut River Valley", Cliff McCarthy, Amos and Agrippa Hull
| Entry | Source | Vol Name | Date | entry id |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| • Hull, Ames Hadley | Minority Military Service - Massachusetts 1775-1783 | 1775-1783 | 1775 | 1536 |