Oliver Warner (1723-1780) was born in Hadley, Massachusetts. He was the seventh of nine children born to Jacob, Jr. and Mary (Stoddard) Warner. Oliver married Hannah ("Anna") Jones in 1731; the coupld had no children. The Warners were a prosperous farming family. A history of the town identified Oliver as among the handful of residents in the mid-18th century who owned a horse-drawn chaise, an elite status symbol. (Judd, p 391.) Oliver Warner died in Hadley in 1780, aged 55. His elaborately carved gravestone bears the following inscription:
"In Memory of Mr. Oliver Warner Who died May 15, 1780 Aged 55 Years. He was respected for his Integrity, Peaceableness, Hospitality, and Charity; A lover of good men and beloved by them"
In company with others among the town's more well-to-do residents, Oliver Warner was an enslaver. According to the 19th century local historian Sylvester Judd, the White population of Hadley numbered 553 in 1765. "According to returns, there were in Hadley in 1755, 18 negro slaves above 16 years of age, and in 1765, 20 negroes in Hadley and 6 in Amherst. In 1771, Hadley had 4 slaves for life between 14 and 45, viz., Doct. Kellogg had 1, Charles Phelps, 1, Jonathan Warner, 1, and Oliver Warner, 1." (Judd, 393)
The African American Judd refers to Oliver Warner having enslaved was likely Zebulon Prutt (1731-1802.) Zebulon was one of seven children of Arthur and Joan Prutt, who were enslaved by Isaac Chauncey (1670-1745) of Hadley, Massachusetts. He was born on August 15, 1731. A bill of sale in the Porter-Phelps-Huntington family papers, shows that soon after Isaac's death in 1745, Zebulon, then 14, was sold to Moses Porter of Hadley for £150. Moses's wife Elizabeth became Zebulon's next enslaver when her husband died in 1755. Eleven years later, Zebulon attempted to escape. The following ad appeared in the Connecticut Courant newspaper on September 8, 1766:
Run away from the Widow Elizabeth Porter of Hadley, a Negro Man named Zebulon Prut, about 30 years old, about five Feet high, a whitish Complexion, suppos'd to have a Squaw in Company; Carried away with him, a light brown Camblet Coat, lin'd and trimm'd with the same Colour- a blue plain Cloth Coat, with Metal Buttons, without lining- a new redish brown plain Cloth Coat, with Plate Buttons, no Lining- a light brown Waistcoat, and a dark brown ditto, both without Sleves- a Pair of Check'd, and a Pair of Tow Trowsers- a Pair of blue Yarn Stockings, and a Pair of Thread ditto- two Pair of Shoes- two Hats- an old red Duffel Great Coat.- Whoever will take up said Negro, and bring him to Mrs. Porter, or to Oliver Warner, of said Hadley, shall have Ten Dollars Reward, and all necessasry Charges paid, by
OLIVER WARNER
Zebulon's bid for freedom did not last. Oliver Warner, who placed the ad, would become Zebulon's next enslaver. In 1768, Elizabeth Porter (1747-1817), later Elizabeth Porter Phelps, wrote in her journal on February 2, 1768 “this day a Negro man that was my fathers who ran away from my mother the which she sold to Mr. Oliver Warner for fifty dollars as soon as he went away was brought back to him - his name was Zebulon Prutt.” Zebulon Prutt died in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1802, having lived to see the end of slavery as a legally sanctioned institution in Massachusetts. (Elizabeth Carlisle, Earthbound and Heavenbent: Elizabeth Porter Phelps and Life at Forty Acres (NY: Scribner, 2004), p. 62; Robert H. Romer, Slavery in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts (Florence, MA: Levelers Press, 2009), p. 178; James Avery Smith, The History of the Black Population of Amherst, Massachusetts, 1728-1870 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999), p. 111.)
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