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Sheldon, George. History of Deerfield, Massachusetts

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Deerfield, MA

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George Sheldon (1818-1916) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, spent most of the latter half of his long life researching, writing, and publishing books and essays on the early history of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and the surrounding region of the mid-Connecticut River Valley. A founder and for many years president of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association of Deerfield, Sheldon published an extensive 2-volume history and accompanying genealogy of Deerfield. That history included an essay Sheldon had originally published in the New England Magazine in 1893 titled, “Negro Slavery in Old Deerfield.” Sharing information gleaned from surviving sources documenting the presence and experiences of the town’s enslaved and free African American residents, Sheldon declared, “To those in the habit of thinking negro slavery as an exclusively Southern institution, this title may have in it an element of surprise, if not of offense. I know of no reason, however, why we should not face the facts relating to it, found in church and town records, and old family manuscripts.”

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