Collect Day #13 SALEM COLBY
Oh God of constant love and understanding: We thank you for the life of Salem Colby who proved that slaves as more than just property. He showed us how to live a dignified life even as he was not respected in the beginning. Give us hope in his example that we too may all be dignified by following the teachings of your son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
DAY #13, March 20, 2019
NEWPORT, NH
SALEM COLBY (1750s – 1834)
Lynn Clark
Salem Colby was born sometime in the 1750s and, as a child, was enslaved by Hannah Bowers of Billerica, MA. Salem was sold in 1761 to Lot Colby of Rumford, now Concord, NH. He served in the Revolutionary War — first as a waiter, then as a soldier — in the 1stNew Hampshire Regiment, while still enslaved by Colby. During the war he was severely injured, but gained his freedom as a result of his service.
Colby lived in Concord after the war as the head of his own household. He married Katherine Blodget, a Black woman from Goffstown, NH, in 1786 and they appear to have had at least two children.
Salem and Katherine didn’t stay in Concord for long, opting instead to join the new Black community forming around Coit Mountain in Newport and Croydon. Salem purchased and sold three parcels of land beginning in 1790, including the Coit homestead in 1803. Katherine’s death in 1796 was recorded in Croydon’s vital records.
Colby left the Newport/Croydon area for West Fairlee, VT, where he applied for his Revolutionary War pension in 1818. He remarried before his death in Vermont in 1834.
