Take a look through this document using the strategies and questions provided throughout the exhibit. What is this document? Who created it and why? As you scan the page, are you able to locate any families?
This page appears in the King’s Chapel Register of Baptisms, and lists each person baptized at the church between May and August 1804. About halfway down the page, on July 8, two young children were baptized in the Vassall family: “Charles-Ward of Darby & Lucy Vafsall” and “Rhoda-Crosby of Darby & Lucy Vafsall.” While “Vassall” was a prominent name among the white elite of King’s Chapel in the colonial period and appears throughout King’s Chapel’s vital registers, the family seen on this page is not related by blood, but through bondage.
Darby Vassall, the father of these two children, was enslaved by Henry and Penelope (nee Royall) Vassall, a wealthy slaveholding couple who were married and worshipped at King’s Chapel in the mid-1700s, before moving to Cambridge and joining Christ Church. While little is known at this time about Charles-Ward and Rhoda-Crosby, Darby’s life is well-documented and includes connections to other members of the free Black community at King’s Chapel and beyond. His mother, Cuba, was initially enslaved by Isaac Royall, Sr. a merchant, slave trader, and Carribean plantation owner. When Royall, Sr. died, Cuba was one of several enslaved individuals in his will left to his daughter Penelope Royall. While Cuba was pregnant with Darby in 1769, the Vassalls sold Cuba to a relative across the street.. Then, as a young child, Darby was separated from his mother and siblings when he was sold to George Reed, who lived in Woburn, Massachusetts. Near the outbreak of the American Revolution, in June 1775, the man who enslaved Darby died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Darby’s parents Cuba and Tony were left behind when the Vassalls evacuated the area because they were British Loyalists. These developments left each of the family members in a state of uncertainty as to their status as enslaved or free individuals, and how they could sustain their lives. Shortly after the Battle of Bunker Hill, Darby was reunited with his parents in Cambridge. During at least a portion of the American Revolution, the Vassalls remained at the Cambridge estate of their former enslavers, which was now being used as George Washington’s headquarters. The family stayed on the land working and also tended to other Vassall and Royall properties, for which they received some pay.
Although two of Darby and Lucy Vassall’s seven children were baptized at King’s Chapel, they were not members of the church, but rather joined Brattle Street Church in Cambridge. Darby Vassall passed away at age 92 in 1861 -- in his life, he not only saw the American Revolution but also lived to see the beginning of the American Civil War. When he died, he was buried in his former enslaver’s family tomb beneath Christ Church in Cambridge, after being granted access by the granddaughter of the man who enslaved him and separated Darby from his family before the age of 6.
Although two of Darby and Lucy Vassall’s seven children were baptized at King’s Chapel, they were not members of the church, but rather joined Brattle Street Church in Cambridge. Darby Vassall passed away at age 92 in 1861 -- in his life, he not only saw the American Revolution but also lived to see the beginning of the American Civil War. When he died, he was buried in his former enslaver’s family tomb beneath Christ Church in Cambridge, after being granted access by the granddaughter of the man who enslaved him and separated Darby from his family before the age of 6.
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Identifying the Vassalls connections with King’s Chapel sheds further light on the social relationship among the Black community who were connected to King’s Chapel to varying degrees in the early 19th century, and illustrates the importance when entering the archives of a broader knowledge of thematic regional history. Darby and his brother Cyrus joined the ranks of other members of the Black community of King’s Chapel through their membership in the African Society, where they were founding members alongside Hannibal Allen and Cato Morey. Much like activist Lancaster Hill, Darby Vassall joined efforts to petition local government to support equality and equity for Black Bostonians, in Darby’s case through pushing for the establishment of a school for Black children. He also attended several anti-slavery conventions in Boston and was involved with a commemorative event in 1858 honoring Crispus Attucks, a Black patriot killed during the Boston Massacre.
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