Samuel Dickinson (1687-1761) was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts. In 1698, at the age of 11, he was captured by Indigenous warriors during a raid on the town. He was captured again in 1723, in Northfield, Massachusetts. In 1730, he moved to Deerfield, Massachusetts, with his wife Hannah (Field) Dickinson and infant daughter. His wife and an eight-year-old daughter, Hepzibah, drowned in 1740, leaving Samuel with three children aged 4-10. He never remarried.
Samuel enslaved Peter, Fortune, and Caesar. In September, 1749 Dr. Thomas Willliams of Deerfield treated a "negro boy" enslaved by Dickinson. This might have been one of these three men at a younger age. Dickinson also rented the services of the Reverend Jonathan Ashley's enslaved men, Titus and Cato, and rented out Caesar to Ashley in turn on at least one occasion. Dickinson may also have rented Colonel William Williams' enslaved man, Caleb Sharp, to do some carpentry work for him; Williams's daybook entries in 1751 record charging Dickinson for nails and sundries for "Sharp." On September 20, 1759 storekeeper Elijah Williams charged Dickinson for two quarts of rum for a woman named Phillis. It is possible that this may be the woman of the same name enslaved in the Deerfield household of Samuel Barnard of Deerfield in the 1780s.
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