Dick Morey/Welsh: Enslaved, Indentured, Freedom Seeker
Massachusetts Historical Society, Bill of sale from John Mory to David Stoddard Greenough for Dick (an enslaved person), 30 July 1785
The Loring-Greenough House sits on Monument Square in the heart of Jamaica Plain at 12 South Street. Both the loyalist Loring and the pro-Revolution Greenough families benefited from the labor of enslaved and indentured people. Through our research, we’ve come to know a young boy by the name of Dick Morey.
Dick: Sold at Age Five
“In consideration of the Sum of Five pounds to me in hand paid by David Stoddard Greenough [I]… Do give, grant, & sell unto him the said David … a Molatto Boy of Five years Old called and known by the Name of Dick who was Born in my House of my Negro servant Binah, to live and serve him the said David … in the Capacity of a Servant until he shall attain to the Age of Twenty one.”
The first known record of Dick appears when he was five years old. On July 30, 1785, his enslaver John Morey sold Dick for five pounds to David Stoddard Greenough. At the time of the sale Greenough was living in what is known today as the Loring Greenough House. Morey had put his farm up for sale earlier in 1783 in order to move from Jamaica Plain to Middleborough to live on a farm that his wife had inherited. Neighbors Eleazer Weld, Lemuel May and Lemuel Child purchased his farm in Jamaica Plain. [1,2]
The “Bill of Sale” clearly treated young Dick as Morey’s property, transferring him to Greenough “in the Capacity of a Servant until he shall attain to the Age of Twenty one Years.” Though born enslaved in 1780, Dick was referred to as indentured, not enslaved, and thus would be free when he attained adulthood. In the intervening 16 years he had no alternative but to provide unpaid labor to Greenough. [3,4]
Who Were Dick Morey’s Parents?
When John Morey inherited his father’s Jamaica Plain property in 1771, the estate inventory listed four enslaved people: [5]
“… a Nego [sic] Boy Named Cato [16] about 12 Years Old … [valued at £] 32.0.0
… a Negro Garl About 11 years Old … 26.13.4
… Ditto Named Bino About 7 Years Old … 16.0.0
… Ditto Named Zippra an Inferm garl … 6.0.0”
The 1785 bill of sale states that Dick was the son of an enslaved African woman named Binah. It is quite possible that Binah was the same seven-year-old girl “Negro garl” listed as “Bino” in the estate of John Morey’s father in 1771. If so, she would have been 16 when she gave birth to Dick.
Dick’s father is not known. Dick’s mother was African and Dick was referred to as “Molatto,” a term White enslavers often used to describe people they perceived to be of mixed race. [Editor’s Note - please check the Terminology page for more details] It is possible that John Morey was Dick’s father. It is also possible his father might have been a man of White, Indigenous, or mixed race. In any case, Dick had no power as to how he was identified.
Massachusetts Historical Society, Indenture between David Stoddard Greenough and Dick Morey, witnessed by selectmen of Roxbury, September 6, 1786
In the 1785 Bill of Sale, Dick was not listed with a last name and was labeled as “Molatto.” However, in the 1786 indenture, Greenough called him Dick Morey and described him as “Negro.” Twelve years later, a newspaper ad referred to him as Dick Welsh and listed him as “Molatto.” Given that Dick had run away, an accurate description was needed to recapture him so it is highly likely Dick was of mixed parentage.
Indentured at Age Six
On September 6, 1786, a year after Greenough purchased Dick, he changed the legal basis to a formal indenture using a standard printed form that would be more legally enforceable in light of changes in Massachusetts case law stemming from the 1783 Quock Walker court case which opened the way to emancipation for enslaved people. [6] Greenough crossed out the part of the form that stated that Dick “doth voluntarily and of his own free Will and Accord, and with the Consent of his parents, bind himself to Greenough.” No mention was made of Dick’s mother Binah. [7,8]
Indenturing, a labor system common in the 1700s, was used to take advantage of unpaid labor in exchange for room, board, food and clothing. This system exploited the poor, especially Africans and Indigenous people, orphans, and the children of unwed mothers. The system was encouraged by local towns to avoid the responsibility of paying to support the orphaned children and the poor.
Dick Morey’s involuntary indenture until age 21 was to work as a farm apprentice. In return for Dick’s labor, Greenough promised in the indenture document to supply “good and sufficient meat, Drink, Washing, Lodging & Clothing.” Although Greenough kept diaries of his farm work, none mention Dick. [9]
Dick Resists
Dick presumably worked for Greenough in Jamaica Plain for the next twelve years. However, the evidence suggests that Dick ran away three years before the end of the indenture.
Ad, Columbian Centinel (Boston, Massachusetts) XXIX, no. 35, July 4, 1798
“ONE DOLLAR REWARD. Ran away from the Subscriber on the morning of the 21st inst. An indented Molatto Servant by the name of Dick Welsh, about 18 years old, uncommonly large of his age; carried off with him a new broad cloth Coat; a chocolate colour’d short Coat; one fustian [twilled cloth] short coat; a drab colour’d cloth great coat almost new; one spotted velvet and several other Waistcoats; 3 pair Trowsers; 2 pair rankin Overhalls; 3 new tow [coarse linen or jute fiber] Shirts; 1 linen do. 2 round Hatts, &c. &c. Whoever will apprehend said ran away and return him to the Subscriber at Jamaica Plains (Roxbury,) shall be entitled to the above reward.”
– David S. Greenough, Roxbury, June 25, 1798 [10]
Dick Morey, born in 1780, would have been 18 years old in 1798 when the ad was placed. Federal census records for the Greenough family during this period list one person in the category “All Other Persons Except Indians Not Taxed.” It is highly unlikely that the Greenoughs would have sequentially indentured two different people both of the same age and both named “Dick” and described as “Molatto.”
Hidden Jamaica Plain researchers and others believe that Dick Welsh was the adult name that Dick Morey selected. [11] There is no evidence that Dick’s mother Binah called herself Morey. It is also possible that Dick might have discovered the name of his father and taken his last name, rather than continuing to use the last name of his former enslaver, or that Greenough changed it for other reasons.
Dick would have had three years left on his indenture. Greenough’s $1 reward was more than some indenturers offered for their missing apprentices, but that might have reflected Greenough’s wish to be seen as a wealthy landed gentleman. [12] The ad’s focus on Dick’s clothing is typical of runaway ads of the time. Clothes were difficult to discard or replace in a pre-industrial world so the exactness of their description was aimed at recapturing Dick. [13] It might also indicate that Greenough was more agitated about having lost all of the clothing Dick took with him, than the labor, and certainly not the welfare, of Dick the person.
Did Dick succeed in his 1798 escape? Possibly not. Federal census records for 1790 and 1800 show one person (Dick?) in the Greenough household listed in the category “All Other Persons Except Indians Not Taxed.” Dick’s indenture presumably ended in 1801 when he reached 21 years of age. Then, he most likely left the Greenough household to pursue his own life. [14]
Was Dick punished for running away? Among the punishments meted out for indentures who ran away was the extension of the time to be held in servitude. [15] There is no evidence currently available indicating that Dick's indenture was prolonged.
By the 1810 census, Dick would have been 30 years old. The 1810 census listed all members of the Greenough household as “White” so Dick had probably moved on. Hidden Jamaica Plain continues to search for later chapters in the life of Dick Morey/Welsh.
Note on the Authors: Hidden Jamaica Plain
Note on Terminology
Notes
[1] Seeking John Morey in Roxbury, Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 11, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/search?q=john+morey
[2] Family Search, 1783 Deed https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Z3-SZCY?cc=2106411&wc=MCB5-
[3] Massachusetts Historical Society, Bill of sale from John Mory to David Stoddard Greenough for Dick (an enslaved person), July 30,1785 https://www.masshist.org/database/669
[4] Dick Morey “in the Capacity of a Servant,” Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 11, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2022/11/dick-morey-in-capacity-of-servant.html
[5] Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers. Case #14993 John Morey. FamilySearch.org https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS27-3S73-X?i=1225&cat=2822393
[6] Long Road to Justice: The African American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts http://www.longroadtojustice.org/topics/slavery/quock-walker.php
[7] Massachusetts Historical Society, Indenture between David Stoddard Greenough and Dick Morey, witnessed by selectmen of Roxbury, 6 September 1786 https://www.masshist.org/database/701
[8] Dick Morey “in the Capacity of a Servant,” Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 11, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2022/11/dick-morey-in-capacity-of-servant.html
[9] David Stoddard Greenough Family Papers, 1631-1859, Massachusetts Historical Society https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0160
[10] Ad, Columbian Centinel (Boston, Massachusetts) XXIX, no. 35, July 4 1798
[11] “About 18 years old, uncommonly large of his age” Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, November 30, 2022. With thanks to Wayne Tucker of the Eleven Names Project who first made the connection between Dick Morey and Dick Welsh.
[12] Rewards Offered in 1798, Boston 1775 blog by J.L. Bell, December 1, 2022 https://boston1775.blogspot.com/search?q=rewards+offered+in+1798
[13] Levelers and Fugitives: Runaway Advertisements and the Contrasting Political Economies of Mid-Eighteenth-
Century Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, Barry Levy, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid Atlantic Studies, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter 2011), Penn State University Press
[14] 1790 Federal Census, 1800 Federal Census, 1810 Federal Census
[15] Indentured Servitude in British America, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude_in_British_America
America at 1750: A Social Portrait, by Richard Hofstadter, London: Cape 1972
[16] 16 A free man named Cato Morey was one of the founding members of the African Society of Boston in 1796. Hidden Jamaica Plain believes that he is the same Cato who was enslaved as a child by John Morey in Jamaica Plain and listed on John Morey’s probate inventory. https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=573&pid=42