Collect Day #9, JUDE HALL
You invite us, Lord, in this holy season of Lent, to the practices of prayer, fasting, and self-denial; to the reading of and mediating upon Your holy Word. Jude Hall, his wife and ten children, fasted often, but it was not a fast of choice. They may have mediated upon Your holy Word, and asked You to protect their kidnapped children, to take away the arrogance of a mind that could believe a youth was there for the stealing. Infect us with compassion for the whole human family; take down the seas that separate us; unite us in bonds of love. Help us not to lose strength for the struggle that is always before us–that of making all nations and races one in our desire to serve you; free to sit, cooling our toes together, in the same small ponds. Amen.
Day #9, February 23, 2018
Kensington & Exeter
JUDE HALL
(1747 – 1827)
Rev. Deborah Knowlton
When Jude Hall escaped from his owner, Nathaniel Healy, he joined the army and became one of the longest-serving soldiers of the Revolutionary War. He earned his freedom and $100 for his military service from 1775 until 1783. His birthdate is uncertain, possibly between 1744 and 1755. He had been enslaved by two men — Philemon Blake, Jr. of Kensington and Healey of Exeter.
Following his years in the military, Jude turned his attention to family and neighbors. The years immediately following the Revolution were difficult for all veterans, but especially so for African Americans. The post-war currency was land. If you did not own a parcel of land, you had precious little of the resources needed to grow food or to build a shelter for yourself and to sustain a family. Few towns had the means to support the poor and the practice of “warning out” was common. If you were warned out, you were required to pick up your belongings and move beyond the town boundaries. Jude, who had just married Rhoda Paul in 1786, was warned out of Exeter in this fashion in 1787. He returned, and together they raised ten children in a cabin in the woods on present-day Drinkwater Road in Exeter – but not before having been warned out of both Stratham and Exeter, again.
Jude and Rhoda had few material possessions — some small pieces of furniture, tongs and earthenware dishes. To maintain his family, Jude fished in a small pond that still exists today, located near his cabin. He also cut lumber and offered manual labor to surrounding farmers. The farmer across the street from Jude owned several acres of woodland which needed cutting. His probated will asks that the executor pay in-full from his estate for his work. Another neighbor, Jonathan Melcher, was taken to court by Jude for breaking into his cabin, ruining the front door and using abusive and threatening language with his wife and children. In 1822, two other neighbors, John Blaisdell and John Wadleigh were alleged to have had an altercation over a sleigh that resulted in Wadleigh’s death. Jude carried the injured Wadleigh into his cabin to warm him while Blaisdell went home to tend his cattle. Wadleigh died while in Jude’s care. The government won its case against Blaisdell, dependent in great part upon Jude’s turns in the witness box — the testimony of a former slave notable for having been judged more truthful than that of a white man.
Although Jude Hall was described as a man of great physical strength, earning himself the nickname, “Old Rock,” by 1828 war injuries had caught up with him; he died and was buried in the northeast corner of the Old Yard in Exeter. Later, bounty hunters kidnapped and sold three of Jude’s children into slavery, even though they were free people. Jude’s son, George, remained in Exeter and marched through the streets in 1857 during the celebration of the abolition of slavery in New Hampshire. Two of George’s sons, Moses and Aaron, fought for the Union in the Civil War, continuing the tradition of honor and patriotism in the Hall family.
