William Taylor Palfrey (1800 - 1886)

Born 1800 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Died 1886 at about age 86 in Louisiana, United States

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Biography

William Taylor Palfrey (1800-1868) became a successful planter on Bayou Teche in St. Mary Parish. He also served as a parish judge, sheriff, and as a state senator in 1855. He married Sidney Ann Conrad (1806-1839) in 1825. They had six children.

When William Taylor Palfrey's father John Palfrey died, his brother, John Gorham Palfrey *inherited* 20 slaves from his father's plantation in Louisiana which continued to be operated by his brothers William Taylor, Henry William, Edward and George. Henry helped John Gorham keep the North American Review, the first, oldest and most culturally significant literary magazine in the US, which he bought and was the editor from 1835-1842, financially afloat. By the time of his father's death in 1843, John Gorham was rejecting slave ownership. The Louisiana state legislature denied his request to free his now enslaved people. So in 1844 John Gorham decided to bring them to Massachusetts. He traveled to Lexington, KY; then the Ohio River and boarded a steamboat to LA. He stayed with his now less cordial brother, William Taylor, who complained that freeing these 20 enslaved would make the rest of the plantation's enslaved work less motivated to work. John Gorham waited until 1845 to travel with them back to Boston. 17 enslaved ended up moving and having a ceremonial welcome at King's Chapel before being located at placements arranged by abolitionists.

Sources

• PALFREY FAMILY PAPERS Compiled by Randy Penninger, Updated 2008 by Leslie Bourgeois
• Baptiste, Edward E. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. Basic Books. New York. 2014. Pages 310-315
• Find-a-grave #61760578