Collect Day #17 THE SANKEE FAMILY
Oh God whose care and concern encompasses all your saints we remember today the Sankee family who lived and worked and contributed to the life of their community. By a long term and faithful service in the army and support for a large family Caesar Sankee lived a steadfast honorable life. In service to his community he provided an example to his family and community. We give thanks to God for this remembrance through His son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever, Amen.
DAY #17, March 25, 2019
CLAREMONT, NH
THE SANKEE FAMILY
Deborah Knowlton
Simon Sankee (Sankey), who would own a shop in Claremont in the 1830s, was born in 1776 in Kittery, Maine, the son of Caesar and Sarah Sankee.
Caesar was originally enslaved by Andrew Neal III of Kittery and inherited by James Neal in 1756. He was freed in 1774, after having been allowed by James Neal to “labor for himself,” or keep some of his wages. James helped him arrange the purchase of 36 acres and a house for which, “a deed was taken in his name.” Caesar married Sarah Sharp that same year, according to the Dover, NH, Quaker Friends Meeting records.
Caesar enlisted in the army and served until 1781. Probably due to the length of his enlistment, he and his family fell away from the Quaker Friends Meeting and were disowned by it in 1777. They moved to Portsmouth, briefly, before moving to Moultonborough, NH, where they are recorded in the 1810 census. After Sarah’s death, and another marriage, we find, in 1830, Caesar is in Pomfret, VT, and his son, Simon, is in nearby Woodstock.
(Pomfret was also known for the Malbone plantation. Godfrey Malbone, a wealthy Rhode Island merchant owned a slavery ship that was well-defended by his captive cargo when attacked at Newport, RI. As thanks, Malbone purchased all of those Africans and let them live in relative independence on a sprawling farm. Many fought in the Revolution and Caesar may have known some of them.)
In 1830, Simon was described by one Woodstock shop owner as the village barber, “a very remarkable man, high-toned, a prince among colored barbers. He was well dressed, wore ruffled shirts, and was fond of driving carriages with a span of horses, sometimes two span.”
Simon also is mentioned in the history of Claremont, NH as a memorable character. There, in 1832, he owned a barber shop and was a purveyor of sweets and ice cream. He was an early user of advertising, using jingles to entice customers.
By 1840, Simon, and his wife, Nancy Freeman, whom he married in 1827, were living in Gilmanton. Thereafter, only Simon appears in the records, through 1860, as residing at the Belknap Poor Farm. One source says he died there at age 90.
