Nathan Frary (1719-1794) was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1719. His parents were Nathaniel and Mehitable (Dickinson) Frary. At age 30, he married Elizabeth Barnard; the couple had nine children. A captain of militia, Nathan served in the French and Indian War (1754-1763.) Sometime in the early 1750s, Nathan moved his family to the section of south Deerfield known as Muddy Brook, also Bloody Brook, where he taught school in 1769. He also ran a tavern at his house. Nathan Frary died in 1794, aged 75.
In March 1746, Nathan rented the labor of Prince, a man enslaved by Joseph Barnard of Deerfield. An entry in the daybook of Ebenezer Arms of Deerfield dated June 8, 1751 charged Frary "To a Pair of shoes for Abijah." This entry likely refers to Abijah Prince, who had gained his freedom only weeks earlier, on May 9, 1751. Before that date, Prince had been enslaved for many years by the Reverend Benjamin Doolittle of Northfield, Massachusetts, and subsequently by Aaron Burt, also of Northfield.
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