Take a moment to look over this page from top to bottom as you scroll down the page. What clues do you see that tell you what this document is and where it came from? Do you notice anything that stands out to you? Perhaps an entry that is different from the others?
This page comes from the King’s Chapel Register of Baptisms, a bound volume used to record the dates, names, and sponsors of each person baptized at King’s Chapel. This particular page runs from July 1718 through November 1720. While there may be many things that stand out, including the number of infants baptized who are not identified by name, skimming the right column, titled “Infants or Adults” reveals one entry that stands out further: a single adult. On September 21, 1720, “Richard a Negroe” who is identified as a “Servant of Mr. Fanueil” was baptized at King’s Chapel -- the only adult baptized at the church in the three years seen on this page.
Who was Richard, and what can we learn about his life, from this document? And what questions remain unanswered? From the document itself, we learn that “Richard a Negroe...Servant of Mr. Faneuil...Adult” was baptized at King’s Chapel on September 21, 1720. Richard is the only person identified as an adult and described with racialized language on this page in the Baptismal Register. In the terminology used in 18th century English, the description of “negro servant” indicated that a person was enslaved. The entry also identifies the person who enslaved Richard, a Mr. Faneuil. While no first name is listed, “Mr. Faneuil” likely refers to Peter Faneuil or a family member, who was a member and pew holder at King’s Chapel prior to his death in 1743. At the time of his death, Faneuil held at least five people in bondage. Perhaps one of these individuals was Richard. Unfortunately, Richard’s entry in the King’s Chapel Register of Baptisms raises more questions than answers.
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As can often be the case when researching Black history in colonial American records, historians hit roadblocks in the archives. Despite our best efforts, this is the only known historical record about Richard at this time. More often than not, as illustrated in this case, Black and Indigenous individuals appear in records about them, rather than written in their own hands or in their own words. The limited documentation and the difficulty of tracking down these histories highlights the necessity of actively and consciously seeking out more information about all those who were enslaved. Even uncovering a single name or mention of an individual speaks to their existence in history and the humanity enslavement tried to deny them. Thus, while little is known at this time about Richard and his life in 18th century Boston, it remains important to lift his name from the archives, having been overlooked for centuries.
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