Munson Tales: New England Slave Owners

Revelations out of Yale relatively recently brought the public’s attention to the fact that slaves contributed to the building of several early Yale buildings (1747-1752). Called out specifically was the slave of Captain Theophilus Munson, who went by “Dick.” He provided significant labor in building, courtesy of the Captain. The last slave in New Haven was sold on the New Haven Green on March 8, 1825. This despite many other New England states having abolished slavery, some states even before they became states. There was a policy of gradual release of slaves, so the last New Haven slaves were not freed until 1848, just 13 years before the Civil War. 

Connecticut Hall (Yale), built with slave labor

In fact, abolition in most northern states had gradual release rules or the inhabitants just didn’t follow the laws of the land at all. New Jersey, a bastion of Munson progeny, never abolished slavery until the end of the Civil War. Joseph Tuttle (b. 1692), grandson of Thomas Munson’s daughter Hannah, was also a slave owner with eight slaves. Deacon Captain Stephen Munson (b. abt. 1733), who was joined to the 1st Church at Hanover, New Jersey, was named “ruling elder” in 1765 and later deacon. 1st Church published a series of Rules for the Regulation of Families in 1782, of which Stephen was the second signer. One of those rules was: “13. As we suppose all human creatures have a natural right to freedom, so when they have done nothing that forfeits their liberty, and when they do not voluntarily submit to bondage, we cannot but look upon their being held in slavery, as an unnatural evil and one of the greatest injuries to mankind. Therefore we will not use this slavery ourselves, and will prudently endeavor to prevent it in others.” This despite owning a slave named “Caesar.” I guess perhaps “Rule 13” was just a guideline for Stephen.