Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/503

Rh love the black faces that shone upon their cradles and cared for them in early youth. Some of the pleasantest memories of childhood are connected with the first generation of free blacks from the family slaves of Barrington, and some of the most worthy of the colored people of Rhode Island and elsewhere bear the names of Barrington families, as descendants of Barrington slaves.

From the introduction of the first slaves into Rhode Island in 1696, from the African coast, until 1774, slaves occupied the place of the house servant and farm hand and never numbered over 4,000 in the state. The census of 1774 returned 1,479 Indians and 3,668 blacks. While some of the Indians were slaves, many of the blacks were free, so that the number of slaves, Indians and blacks, was not probably greater than the total black population. As the population of the colony by the same census was 59,707 the ratio of whites to blacks was as 1 black to 16.6 whites. As some white families owned from two to six slaves, it is not probable that more than one fourth of the families of the state owned slaves. Of the 91 families in Barrington by the census of 1774, 22 of them returned Indian or black servants. Of the 168 families in Warren, only 26 returned slaves. Of the 197 families in Bristol, 49 families returned 140 servants or slaves. The number of Indians and blacks in Barrington in 1774 was 59, as will be seen by reference to the Barrington census of 1774.

The universal testimony of Barrington people of the last generation was that these slaves were industrious and faithful servants, honest and trustworthy. They were treated with much kindness and consideration by their owners, and were appreciative of their advantages. Of the following slaves a brief record may be made.

Cuff Adams was owned by Nudigate Adams, grandson of Judge Nudigate Adams of Wickford. He lived with his master near what is now the Cleland place at Barrington Centre and was buried there.

Jack Bosworth, owned by Edward Bosworth, married