Collect Day #32, CHARLES HALL
Almighty and Loving God, who in Holy Scripture guided Your People to freedom and new homes; we give you thanks for the example of bravery and resilience in the life of Charles Hall and his family, who courageously sought liberation and who daily overcame the threat of being returned to slavery; grant that we may breakdown the evils of racism and walk with neighbors who face daily worries that seem impossible to bear, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
DAY #32, April 11, 2019
NEWPORT, NH
CHARLES HALL (? – 1893)
Lynn Clark
As a young man, Charles Hall freed himself from bondage in Florida in 1837. He appropriated a boat belonging to the man who enslaved him and rowed out to meet a ship heading north. The ship’s captain asked his brother-in-law, Deacon Jonathan Cutting of Newport, to find work for the young man. Cutting put Hall to work in his saw mill. Hall lived in Newport, with short stays in Sutton and Grantham, for the rest of his life.
Hall made enough of an impression on local writers that they preserved some of the details of his life. He is featured in several poems where we learn that he made his living as a carpenter, and that he was also a skilled fiddler, banjo player, and dancer.
We are given a few clues about his marriages – either in the poems or Newport’s records. We know that Hall married Ursula Clark, daughter of fiddler player Anthony Clark of Warner, NH, in 1840 and that they raised a large family in Newport. The Halls lived on East Mountain Road on an acre of land purchased by Ursula. One poem identifies Ursula’s older sister, Lydia, as Hall’s wife. Perhaps he married Lydia first, although no marriage record has been found. Hall married Sarah Haskell Wheeler of Sutton, in 1876 after Ursula’s death. Hall apparently outlived Sarah and, according to poet George Bancroft Griffith, married one last time.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (and the U.S. Constitution; Article IV, Section 2), demanded escaped enslaved people be returned to their owners. So, this was a dangerous time for Hall as his story was widely known. Fortunately, he was never turned in. His acceptance as a community member is further attested to by the description of full-to-capacity attendance at his 1893 funeral.
Even so, Hall’s popularity did not protect him from racism, both overt and casual. For example, he was described as cheerful and patient, even with those who disliked him, traits attributed to his being Black. Sadly, even the poet who seemed to have been fond of Hall peppered his poems, such as “The Old Darkey’s Cabin,” with all the stereotypes White people use to demean Blacks.
