�Many of you have reached my page in a search for Amos Fortune - usually because you (or your class) is reading Elizabeth Yates' book Amos Fortune - Free Man. If you have already viewed my homepage, than you already klnow that I am the author of Amos Fortune - The Man and His Legacy. It was published in 2000 by the Amos Fortune Forum and is distributed by the Jaffrey, NH Public Library.

It took a year to research, write, illustrate, and design this book. The Library is selling copies for $10, plus shipping and handling. If you wish to obtain a copy, please contact the library, not me. I do not have any copies to distribute.

You can reach the Jaffrey Public Library's website here.

If you want a condensed version of Amos Fortune's life, contuinue reading!

Amos Fortune was probably born around 1710, a date reached by calculating back from his recorded death in 1801 at age 91. Fortune's homeland was probably western Africa in the areas then known as Guinea or the "Gold Coast" (now consisting of such countries as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ghana) since this was the principal area frequented by slave traders from England and its colonies in America. Nothing is known about his life in Africa, or his journey to America as a slave.

The earliest record we have of Amos Fortune dates from 1752 when he was owned by Ichabod Richardson, a tanner who lived in Woburn, Massachusetts. Richardson's first will, dated May 11, 1752, specifies that six years following his master's death, Amos Fortune is to be freed.

On December 30, 1763, Richardson had a formal manumission paper drawn up, promising freedom for Fortune four years after that date, or upon the death of Richardson should he die before the four years were over. However, the paper was never signed, and therefore was not legally binding.

Five days before Richardson's sudden and unexpected death in 1768, he signed a new will which did not mention Amos Fortune or his freedom. Since there was no legal manumission paper and since the 1752 will was supplanted by the later one, Fortune remained legal property which could be sold again. But Amos Fortune was already 58 and not likely to be purchased.

In November 1769, a manumission paper was drawn up stating that Amos Fortune was free retroactive to May 9, 1769. He was at last a free man.
Nothing is known about the life of Amos Fortune between 1770 and 1774. He must have earned some money, for on July 20, 1774, he spent �16.13s. on a half acre of land on the Wilmington Road in Woburn, on which he constructed a small house.

Not only did Amos Fortune have a house, he also had several acquaintances in the Woburn area. One was Pompey Blackman, another African slave who lived in Lexington, Massachusetts. Calling him his "trusty friend," Blackman authorized Fortune to act as his representative in business matters in 1777. Blackman was illiterate, so his trust indicates the high regard in which Amos Fortune was held by his peers.

Fortune's family life has been a matter of controversy. Some versions of his life have him purchasing the freedom of three African women. However, the Woburn records do not show Amos Fortune marrying anyone before 1778.

The woman who died in 1778 was Amos Fortune's true first wife, Lydia Somerset of Billerica, Massachusetts. On June 23, 1778, Amos purchased Lydia from her master for �50 (a high, but common price). They were married on July 8, 1778, in Lexington, Massachusetts. No details of their short married life are known, for Lydia died three months later on October 3, 1778.

Amos Fortune's second wife, who outlived him, was Violate Baldwin. She was owned by James Baldwin of North Woburn. On November 9, 1779, Amos Fortune purchased Violate Baldwin's freedom from the Baldwins for �50, and married her the next day in Woburn. She was 50 years old at the time, and he was 69.