A Slave Named Sambo

In 1755 there were 12 slaves in the town of Middleboro, MA. Rev. Peter Thatcher owned a slave by the name of Sambo who was imported from Africa.

A story is told of Sambo entering the home to see a fire in the oven. It scared him and he ran away. He was found later cold, tired and hungry and fearful of the wild animals that just might eat him. Sambo told the Rev. that in Africa when they got hungry they would kill a slave and cook him and eat him. Sambo said "I thought now my time."

Sambo went to church every Sunday and one day in church he was so moved by the sermon that he sobbed quite loudly disrupting the entire congregation.

(Story found in the records of NEHGS in Boston)

A Slave Is Sent Back to Africa

In 1730, a slave was brought from Gambia in Africa to Maryland and given the name Job. Finding difficulty in performing the physical labor assigned to him by his master, he ran away, was captured, and put in jail. While in jail he was visited by Thomas Bluett, my 7th great grandfather, in 1731. Bluett, a Maryland resident, is shown in some old Maryland records as an attorney, some as a judge, some as a minister. Page 851 of Classified Digest of the Records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701 - 1892, lists him as one of the Society’s missionaries.

 
Bluett became impressed with Job, and through another slave acting as interpreter, wrote Job’s biography, “Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon, the High Priest of Boonda in Africa; Who was a Slave About Two Years in Maryland; and Afterwards Being Brought to England, was Set Free, and Sent to His Native Land in the Year 1734,” which gained considerable note at the time and still gets considerable mention today.

Bluett had Job write a letter to his father in Africa. The letter had to go through England and somehow ended up in the hands of James Oglethorpe, who at the time was Deputy Governor of the Royal African Company. Oglethorpe had the letter translated by Oxford University. Touched by Job's story, Oglethorpe not only ransomed Job, he invited him to England.  Accompanied by Bluett, Job arrived in England in the spring of 1733 while Oglethorpe was off founding the colony of Georgia.

After a year of being treated royally, Job got to meet the General when Oglethorpe returned to England for a brief visit in June 1734. A month later, Job was on his way back to Gambia, a journey made possible by two compassionate men: Thomas Bluett and James Oglethorpe. One of the sources for the above was taken from "Life of General Oglethorpe," published in 1890 by Henry Bruce.

Slaves of Houston

John C Houston II

John Carroll Houston II was the son of John Carroll Houston I and Mary Harvey.  He was born ca. 1788 in Beaufort, S.C. On May 2,1811 he married Elizabeth Susannah Christopher, born 1797 on Big Talbot Island, Duval County, Florida.  They were married by the Reverend Miguel Crosby of the Cathedral of St. Augustine, Florida.  Witnesses were Fernando de la Mayo Ardono and Antonia Seony (Scony).  John was about 23 and Elizabeth about 14 years of age.  They lived in Beaufort, Carolina, possibly on his father's plantation in St. Lukes Parish.

In 1814 they appeared as Nominal Residents of Big Talbot Island in the Spanish Census of that date.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Samuel Spicer Christopher and his wife Mary Greenwood.  Spicer was the son of John Christopher and Martha Watson. Mary was the daughter of William Greenwood of Virginia and Isabel Bryan of Georgia.

John gave his son, John C. Houston III, 10 slaves to help him build his new home and the slaves' quarters in a town Houston III named Arlington, and later changed to Eau Gallie, Florida.

Arlington was the name given to the settlement, which sprang up around the cabin of John C. Houston, (born 1813). A nephew of Sam Houston, he arrived here in 1859 after serving as a scout during the Third Seminole War. He walked here from Enterprise with his sons and about 10 slaves on the Hernandez/Capron Trail. His wife, Mary Virginia Hall, joined him when the cabin was completed in 1860.

John C Houston III

The cabin sat on his homestead of 160 acres, including all of the land lying north of Elbow Creek (now called the Eau Gallie River), east to the Indian River, and west perhaps all the way to Lake Washington. His home was built of crude logs chinked with clay and burnt oyster shells. Palmetto roots and green boughs were burned at night to create an anti-mosquito smoke screen. They had a sugar cane mill propelled by a horse or oxen, and also raised rice.

At the end of the Civil War, Confederate Secretary of War Breckenridge attempted to flee to Cuba by boat. Unfortunately for him, his boat developed a leak and he landed at Houston's dock. Houston, a Southern sympathizer, helped him on his way to Cuba.

Arlington had the second post office in Brevard County, established on June 30, 1871, with John Houston as its postmaster. Henry Titus had the contract to deliver the mail.

Slaves Quarters

It was in 1862 when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipaton Proclamation ending slavery.  But real freedom did not come until the Confederacy conceded to the Union and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was signed prohibiting slavery, freeing approximately 4,000 slaves.  Houston's slave quarters now sat empty. 

Today this home is part of the Rossetter Museum in Eau Gallie, Florida that include the Roesch House, Rossetter House and the Houston Family Cemetery located on Highland Avenue.