The Royall House and Slave Quarters
Medford, Massachusetts
Join Us
Members are admitted free to the property; receive the Royall House Reporter, and invitations to our Fall and Spring programs along with special events. Membership.
Volunteer
Like all community organizations, we rely a great deal on the energies of our volunteers. We need your talent and we need your help! Volunteer.
Public Programs
Regular public lectures cover a variety of topics on Colonial and Medford history, Northern slavery, and much more. Events.
Visitor Schedule
The Royall House and Slave Quarters are open for Tours from May 31 to October 26, 2008 -- weekends, 1 to 5 p.m. Group Tours may also be arranged for dates starting March 1, 2008. Pictured: the center hall of the Isaac Royall House.
Photo © Geoffrey Gross 2007. From Great Houses of New England; Rizzoli, 2008. Used by permission.
Visitor Guide.
Slave Tenure Under the Royalls
Census and probate records have preserved the names of 63 men, women, and children enslaved by the Royalls. This number is probably representative, but may well be incomplete.
Slaves shown with the same superscript belong to the same family group. Nearly 3/4 of the Royalls' known slaves lived with the Royalls for fewer than 10 years, suggesting that making lasting ties of family, friendship, and community would have been hard to do.
For Information on what we know about the daily lives of slaves at the Royall House see Slave Life.
| Name |
1st and Last Dates |
Minimum Tenure |
Ultimate Fate |
| Hector, slave driver |
1737 |
1 |
Burned alive for conspiracy to revolt |
| Quaco |
1737 |
1 |
Banished to Hispaniola for conspiracy to revolt |
| Ruth |
1726 - 1739 |
14 |
Unknown |
| Nan |
1726 - 1727 |
2 |
Unknown |
| Cuff |
1726 - 1739 |
14 |
Unknown |
| Peter June |
1732 |
1 |
Sale |
| Cuffee |
1735 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Peter |
1726 - 1769 |
44 |
Death |
| Fortune |
1725 - 1739 |
15 |
Unknown |
| Captain |
1737 - 1739 |
3 |
Unknown |
| Black Bettya |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Abbaa |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Quacoea |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Dianaa |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Johna |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Nancya |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Bettya |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Georgea |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Saraha |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Jacoba |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Jemmya |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Abba b |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Robinb |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Cobab |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Walkerb |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Nubab |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Traceb |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Tobeyb |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Present |
1738 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Cato |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Barron |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Ned |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| House Peter |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Robin |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Quamino |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Smith |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Phillip |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Trace |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Sue (Susannah) |
1739 - 1758 |
20 |
Death |
| Jonto |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Old Negro Man |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Santo |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Girl 6 Years of Age |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Old Cook |
1739 |
1 |
Unknown |
| George |
1739 - 1776 |
38 |
Suicide |
| Abraham |
1754 - 1768 |
15 |
Death |
| Betseyc |
1754 - 1776 |
23 |
Manumission |
| Nancyc |
1754 - 1776 |
23 |
Let Out |
| Cooper |
1754 - 1775 |
22 |
Death |
| Hagar |
1754 - 1776 |
23 |
Sale |
| Joseph |
1754 - 1761 |
8 |
Death |
| Mira |
1754 - 1776 |
23 |
Sale |
| Phebe |
1754 - 1765 |
12 |
Death |
| Plato |
1754 - 1768 |
15 |
Death by drowning |
| Stephy |
1754 - 1776 |
23 |
Sale |
| Dianad |
1761 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Josephd |
1761 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Belindae |
1768 - 1778 |
11 |
Manumission |
| Josephe |
1768 - 1778 |
11 |
Gift-transfer |
| Prinee |
1768 |
1 |
Unknown |
| Priscilla |
1778 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Bathshebaf |
1778 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
| Nannyf |
1778 |
1 |
Gift-transfer |
Note: Isaac Royall, Jr. stated in his will, "I hereby confirm my Gift unto my beloved son in law Sir William Pepperell Baronett and his heirs of my Negro Boy Joseph and my Negro Girl Priscilla." Joseph was likely the son of either Diana or Belinda (listed above in the "d" and "e" family groups), but there is no way to know which.
We have treated Joseph in our interpretations at the Royall House as Belinda's son because Belinda was still in Royall's employ in 1778, and Diana had not been mentioned since 1761. This is an assumption based on the fact that the Royalls had kept mothers and children together in the past, but there is no evidence whatever of that here. It is equally possible that Diana was sold, but her son Joseph kept, or conversely, that Belinda was kept while her son, also named Joseph, was sold. In her petition of 1783, she mentions only a daughter, presumably Prine, baptized with her brother in 1768. Of course, the "Boy Joseph" of 1778 could also have been a different Joseph entirely.
These are some of the challenges to reconstructing slave family at the Royall estate.