Collect Day #18 PRINCE WALKER
Oh God, we remember today, Prince Walker your servant by whose grace in spite of being sold into servitude led a hard faithful life. By his great strength and obedience he tilled the soil and harvested the fields without complaint and married his fellow slave Violet and served his country in the army. We pray that we may be enlightened and strengthened by this example of service given to us by Prince and Violet, and that our faith be strengthened through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns in the Holy Spirit one God world without end, Amen.
DAY #18, March 26, 2019
CONCORD, NH
PRINCE WALKER (c. 1726 – 1825)
Deborah Knowlton
Prince, Luce, and Violet were the enslaved people of the Rev. Timothy Walker. It is uncertain how or whether they were related. Walker, from Woburn, MA, was the founder and first pastor of the Penacook Plantation, an early settlement site along the Contoocook River. It later became a village within Concord, NH.
Prince, born in Londonderry, also was known as Primus or Prentice. Walker’s 1751 bill of sale for Prince notes: “For value received, I have this day sold to Mr. Timothy Walker a Negro boy named Prince, which I have owned for some time past.” It is signed by Ruth Hayward, Woburn. Although called “boy,” Prince may have been 25 when sold.
Prince’s name appears in Walker’s personal diary many times: “Prince went into ye mast camp with 1 yoke oxen,” meaning he went into the forest as a lumberman to cut masts for the King. In other entries, we learn that Prince cleared 16 bushels of wheat, or 30 bushels of oats, or 61 bushels of Indian corn. He must have been a strong man and a steady worker as a bushel of corn weighs about 55 pounds, but he was not a big man, being described as 5′ 1/2″ with dark hair and complexion. Walker must have trusted Prince, however, since he writes of lending him out to other farms. It may also have been true that Walker allowed Prince and Violet to marry before granting them their freedom, for there is a record of a Violet and Prince marrying in Woburn in 1764. Walker apparently did not officiate at the marriage.
It is believed that Walker gave Prince, Luce, and Violet their freedom on the adoption of the New Hampshire state constitution in 1776, which allowed Prince, in 1781, to enlist as a free Black soldier for Amesbury, MA. It is unknown where Luce or Violet lived during his enlistment. Prince got sick early in his service but continued until he was mustered out by the Inspector General in 1782. Even after that, Prince served until he was transferred to the Corps of Invalids in 1783. After the war, Prince went to live in Andover, MA, with Tom Kittridege and then on to Woburn where he died, possibly as late as 1825. Luce died in Concord in 1805. Violet’s date of death is unknown.
