December forum began by exploring Partridge Thatcher’s history

February 5, 2021  |  Submitted by Life LeGeros

The following is a transcript of remarks provided by South Burlington teacher, historian and author Elise Guyette, Ph.D., during the introduction to the community conversation on Dec. 15, 2020, hosted by the Harwood Union High School students, the Waterbury Public Library and the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition. 

Approximately 100 local residents attended the online event held via video conference. 

Guyette provided an introduction based on her research. That was followed by discussion of the overarching question: How should we react to the fact that Partridge Thatcher - namesake of a town brook and elementary school - was a slaveholder?

Guyette’s book “Discovering Black Vermont” highlights the Clark family. Shubael Clark came to Vermont from New Milford, Conn. in the late 18th century.

Her remarks reference a timeline that is contained in the informational materials shared by the anti-racism coalition that provide historical background. 

She also mentions Karen and Dean Henry, who attended the event. Karen Henry is descended from the people who were enslaved by Partridge Thatcher. 

From Guyette: 

We went to New Milford to try to figure out exactly what his life had been like before [Clark] came to Vermont. And while we were there, we discovered that Dean Henry had already discovered some of this. So I called him up and we chatted about it. So this isn't just my discovery - a number of people discovered this. 

So, what we discovered was that in 1749 [Jacob and Dinah, the people Partridge Thatcher originally enslaved] were Shubael Clark’s grandparents. He and his wife Violet came to Monkton, Vt., first and then to Hinesburg. And that's one of the families that's highlighted in the book “Discovering Black Vermont.” 

So we discovered that Shubael was actually Jacob and Dinah’s grandson. They were actually purchased by this man by the name of Partridge Thatcher, who was one of the original proprietors of Waterbury. He did some surveying there and that's why the brook was named after him. 

So, they were young children when they were torn from everything that they had ever known, torn from their families, their mother, father, aunts, uncles siblings, their entire culture - torn away and brought to this country - and six weeks later to be enslaved by Partridge and Mary Thatcher. Connecticut at that time had more enslaved people per capita than any other New England state. It was a slave state. 

So Jacob and Dinah, not very long after they were bought, married. And I'm assuming that they were forced to be married; they were very young, they were the only black people in the household. And they were married. And Dinah had 11 children, all enslaved to the Thatchers. 

In 1753 you see [on the timeline] that one of Dinah's children, Sybil, was married to a man by the name of Amos Lewis. But she had already had her son Shubael Clark, and that's a little bit of a mystery. Maybe Dean or Karen can, you know, maybe they found some more about that, I don't know. But they freed Sybil in order to marry Amos. Amos wouldn't marry her if she was enslaved. That happened a lot because if you were enslaved, your children were enslaved, which is peculiar about slavery in this country. That's why it's called a “peculiar institution” ... Your children were enslaved. Your grandchildren were enslaved. Shubael was enslaved. But at one point for some reason, Partridge freed Sybil in order to marry Amos. 

Sometime later, he freed Jacob and Dinah, but in the agreement, Jacob and Dinah have to bring up [Thatcher’s] slave Cyrus. They are to bring him up until he is 5 at their own expense and then he has to be turned over to Partridge and Mary Thatcher to be their slave. Cyrus is Dinah and Jacob's own son. He’s their son, but he was property. He was property so they had to do what he told them to do. Fortunately for Cyrus Partridge Thatcher died before that happened. 

But in his will, 1786, [Thatcher] said he was going to free all of his remaining slaves. This was something that happened a lot. This was the Revolutionary Era. This was after the revolution. More enslaved people were freed in this entire country during the Revolutionary Era than at any time in the history of our country, outside of the 13th Amendment. 

So, this was a time that freedom was in the air. Thousands of Black men fought in the Revolutionary War because they believed that a new country, a new American country, would emancipate them all. [They thought] we would get rid of slavery; they were of course thoroughly disappointed about that.

So after the war, this is when Shaubel [Clark] had married Violet Bassett. And they moved to Vermont. They settled in Monkton, Vt., first, and that's 1791. By 1795, they settled in Hinesburg at the top of this hill: Lincoln Hill. 

A product of one’s time

I would just like to finish [by addressing an] earlier comment about people being a product of their time. 

Everyone is a product of his or her time. We all are. Everybody here tonight. We are a product of our time. And yet we have diametrically opposed opinions and ideas about what's going on right now, and that's the same thing that happened during this time. 

Partridge Thatcher, of course, was a product of his time - we all are. You can't escape your time. 

But the interesting thing is also when I was looking at the agreements. And in the agreements, you talk about [how] each person has a unique perspective. And that is the same thing with Partridge Thatcher. 

Think about Partridge Thatcher in the middle of a circle, who are we going to put around the outside looking at him and having their unique experience involving Partridge Thatcher? So we could have people, his peers, other powerful white men, and they would have one perspective on Partridge Thatcher. And some of the resources that you find about him are written by other powerful privileged white men, so they have a certain perspective on Partridge Thatcher. 

Now how about his enslaved people? They have a different perspective on Partridge Thatcher. They did not believe in slavery; they wanted to be free. They so wanted to be free that in between the time Partridge Thatcher’s will was written and he died, they actually ran away because they were afraid that they were going to be sold in order to pay his debts. So these were people who wanted to be free. So they’re products of their time, and they have a different perspective on Partridge Thatcher. 

What about Quakers? What about abolitionists? What about other free Blacks? I mean, what about Jacob and Dinah themselves? 

So this is just my way of saying, we're all products of our time. Every time period in history that we talk about is really complex, and we can judge people through the ethics and the morals of their own time. Just making sure that we get all the different perspectives that were available at the time. 

So yes, we can judge Partridge Thatcher and all we have to do is go back and look at the ideals of the various people from this time period.

The community forum then proceeded to break into discussion groups that later came together to share ideas. Read more on the event here. In January, student facilitators from the forum asked the Harwood Union Unified School Board to initiate steps to change the name of Thatcher Brook Primary School. The board will discuss the topic at its Feb. 10 meeting.