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Titus Gay (1787-1837), also known as Old Ti, was born into slavery in the town of Suffield, Connecticut, USA, and because of the Gradual Emancipation Act passed in 1784, [1] he was freed in 1812 after reaching 25 years of age. He was buried in the northeastern corner of the cemetery behind the Congregational church in Suffield, CT.
Old Ti was born in 1787, and lived nearly his entire life in Suffield, CT. He was owned by the town minister, Reverend Ebenezer Gay Jr., at the time of his manumission. Because his mother was enslaved by Reverend Ebenezer Gay Sr., he was born an enslaved person in the local community. His father, Titus Kent, was enslaved by Samuel Kent, who then bequeathed him to his son in his probate records. His son was Major Elihu Kent, who was a leader during the Revolutionary War and a member of the Kent family, an original land granted family from the settlement of the town. Titus Kent also fought in the Revolutionary War.
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According to Judge Smith's Old Slave Days in Connecticut [2] Titus was in love with a female slave known only as Phill. Shortly after running from her master she died. According to Smith, Phill dies on the run, a victim of the brutally cold Connecticut winter. Though Titus and Phill were never actually married (she died before they had the chance) this is the closest known instance in which Titus had any sort of love life. Old Ti was allegedly buried next to Phill. Old Ti never had any children. He was dedicated to his community and church, once he became a free man Titus would work in the church to make ends meet. Both of Titus's parents were slaves. Rose Gay, his mother served Reverend Ebenezer Gay of Suffield, CT. Titus Kent, his father, was owned by Maj. Elihu Kent, also of Suffield. Both Maj. Elihu Kent and Titus Kent served in the Connecticut Militia. [3] After Titus Gay (Old Ti) was manumitted in 1812 by Reverend Ebenezer Gay Jr. he lived in Suffield as a free man.
Titus was emancipated at the age of twenty-five by the Gradual Emancipation Act that was passed in 1784. Even though Titus was no longer Reverend Gay's slave, he was still very much involved in the town. One of Titus's most coveted jobs was working as a tythingman. This job consisted of assisting funerals with the pastor. He made sure things in the church ran smoothly. Working as a tythingman was not the only job that Titus had. He was also the sexton, the gravedigger, the custodian of the church, and the church bell ringer. He was very much involved in the community. In the 1820s there was a day once a year called training day. Training day was a day where the town celebrated their local militia with a parade. Titus was in charge of keeping the little boys of the town out of trouble. The parents trusted him with their children.
William Wilberforce was a British politician, philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, and became an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Yorkshire (1784–1812). In 1785, he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform.
Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, and located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,752. The town center is a census-designated place listed as Suffield Depot in U.S. Census records.
Richard Allen was a minister, educator, writer, and one of the United States' most active and influential black leaders. In 1794, he founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent Black denomination in the United States. He opened his first AME church in 1794 in Philadelphia.
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Timothy Swan (1758–1842) was a Yankee tunesmith and hatmaker born in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. The son of goldsmith William Swan, Swan lived in small towns along the Connecticut River in Connecticut and Massachusetts for most of his life. Swan's compositional output consisted mostly of psalm and hymn settings, referred to as psalmody. These tunes and settings were produced for choirs and singing schools located in Congregationalist communities of New England. Swan is unique as an early American composer in that he composed secular vocal duets and songs in addition to sacred tunebook music. The tunebook, New England Harmony is a collection of his sacred music compositions, while The Songster's Assistant is a collection of his secular music. Swan was also a poet and teacher of singing.
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Capt. John Wheeler Leavitt (1755–1815), born in Suffield, Connecticut, was an early settler of Ohio's Western Reserve lands, where members of his family had bought large tracts from the state of Connecticut, and where Capt. Leavitt became an early innkeeper, politician and landowner in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio. Capt. Leavitt was a member of the Connecticut Land Company and along with his cousin Ebenezer King from Suffield, paid over $51,000 for approximately 78,500 acres (318 km2) of Ohio land, which included the township of Warren. The Leavitt family of Warren would go on to play a substantial role in the history of their adopted town and in Ohio.
Rev. Jonathan Leavitt (1731–1802) was an early New England Congregational minister, born in Connecticut, and subsequently the pastor of churches in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, both of which dismissed him from his posts. Several of Rev. Leavitt's descendants became among the most noted abolitionists of their day, even though he himself was dismissed from one pastorate for allegedly abusing his runaway slave, and from another for his Loyalist sentiments.
The exact date of the first African slaves in Connecticut is unknown, but the narrative of Venture Smith provides some information about the life of northern slavery in Connecticut. Another early confirmed account of slavery in the English colony came in 1638 when several native prisoners were taken during the Pequot War were exchanged in the West Indies for African slaves. Such exchanges become common in subsequent conflicts.
Titus Kent was an enslaved person in colonial Suffield, Connecticut, by Elihu Kent (1733–1814), and he was the father of Titus Gay, who is commonly referenced in legend, lore, and historical records as "Old Ti." Titus Kent served in the American Revolution with the Connecticut militia. He served with his owner, Elihu Kent, and with others from Suffield, Connecticut.
The Ebenezer Gay House, also known locally as the Gay-Hoyt House, is a historic house museum at 18 Main Street in Sharon, Connecticut. Built in 1775, it is a well-preserved example of Georgian colonial architecture in brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is part of the Sharon Historic District, listed in 1993. It is now home to the Sharon Historical Society.
The Free African Union Society, founded in 1780 in Newport, Rhode Island, was America's first African benevolent society. Founders and early members included Prince Amy, Lincoln Elliot, Bristol Yamma, Zingo Stevens and Newport Gardner.
James Mars was an American slave narrative author and political activist. Born into slavery in Canaan, Connecticut, he gained his freedom in 1811. In 1864, he published his memoir A Life of James Mars, a Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut, Written by Himself—a notable example of the slave narrative genre. His grave is a stop on the Connecticut Freedom Trail. In 2021, Governor Ned Lamont declared May 1 to be James Mars Day in Connecticut.
Gradual emancipation was a legal mechanism used by some states to abolish slavery over some time, such as An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery of 1780 in Pennsylvania.
