Slaves were no strangers

By Julie Nagazina/ CorrespondentThursday, January 13, 2005 While Hamilton and Wenham are generally assumed to have been untouched by considerations of slavery and abolition in the 1800s, there is clear evidence that residents of both towns were more than vaguely familiar with the issue. It is a fact that may seem unsettling to today's citizens as they anticipate the marking of Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday, Jan. 17. A volume in the archives of the Wenham Museum entitled, "Vital Records of Wenham," lists alphabetically by last name, the births, marriages and deaths of Wenham residents from 1643 to the end of 1849. At the end, however, there is a separate heading for "Negroes." The short phrases listed there, copied from church records and family Bibles, offer hints as to what life was like for New England's first generations of African-Americans. The words "servant of" appear frequently and last names are rarely used. Complete Story: http://www2.townonline.com/hamilton/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=161219