Robert Jacklin (1680 - aft. 1735)

Born 1680 in Africa [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Wright) Jacklin — married 9 Oct 1712 (to 1 May 1713) in New London, Connecticut Colony

Husband of Hager Jacklin — married 13 Oct 1713 in New London, New London, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died after 1735 after age 55 in Norwalk, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony [uncertain]

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Robert Jacklin is a part of US Black heritage.

Biography

"Robert’s origins are unknown but he was probably among the Africans brought to New England coastal towns via ships from either Africa or the Caribbean."^[1]

Starting in 1685, Robert was a valued slave to the Newbury [Massachusetts] physician Peter Toppan. After Dr. Toppan took a sharp fall and died in 1707, his sons allowed Jacklin to purchase his liberty.^[2]Robert was manumitted 15 Oct 1711.^[3]

Robert came to New London, CT, and married Mary Wright, daughter of William and Hagar Wright, on 9 Oct 1712.^[4]. She had a daughter (also named Mary) then died a week later on 1 May 1713. [Note: Allegra di Bonaventura says Mary lived to have three children, but the Barbour Records say otherwise.]

According to the Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Vol 1, page 47, on 13 October 1713, Robert married Hagar. Two of their children are listed in the New London Records:

• Robert Jacklin Jr (b. (31 Mar 1715)
• Freeman Jacklin (b. 25 Nov 1716).

Three more sons-- James, Samuel, and and John--are listed by Rose and Brown in their book Tapestry, a Living History of the Black Family in Southeastern Connecticut.

By 1729, Hagar had died, and Robert had married Zipporah. ^[5]

Property

Before Freeman was born, Jacklin bought a house, barn, and farm from John Pike,^[6] but the inhabitants of New London:

"In town meeting, April 15, 1717, Voted that this town do utterly oppose and protest against Robert JACKLIN a negro man's buying any land in this town, or being an inhabitant within s'd town and do further desire the deputies yt shall attend the Court in May next yt they represent the same to the Gen. Assembly that they would take some prudent care that no person of yt colour may ever have any possessions or freehold estate within this government." ^[7][8]

The act did not pass, and Robert kept his land. He sold it a year later for a profit of 12 pounds. ^[9] In 1721, Robert rented a farm in North Parish (now Montville) from Jonathon Rogers.

In 1726, Robert and his family moved from New London to Colchester (about 20 miles northwest of New London), where he bought 128 acres. "North of the Holmes farm was a lot of 100 acres laid out to John Chapman in 1715 and sold to John Gustin in January 1719-20. Additional land was granted to Gustin, and the whole sold to Robert Jacklin, a free coloured man of New London, in 1726, and by the latter to a widow, Sarah Martin of Boston in 1729."^[10]

In 1729, Jacklin gave power of attorney to George Holmes of Colchester to collect monies owed to Jacklin then moved with his wife Zipporah and children to Norwalk, CT, about 80 miles west of Colchester. In 1735, Robert bought four acres on Upper Clapboard Hill in that town.^[11]

His descendants lived in that area for many years.

Sources

1. ↑ https://ridgefieldlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FARMERS-SOLDIERS-SLAVES.pdf, page 15
2. ↑ di Bonaventura, Allegra. For Adam's Sake: A Family Saga in Colonial New England (p. 120). Liveright. Kindle Edition.
3. ↑ Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Vol 1, page 47
4. ↑ Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Vol 1, page 47
5. ↑ Rose, James M and Barbara W. Brown, Tapestry, a Living History of the Black Family in Southeastern Connecticut, pp 71-72
6. ↑ Rose, James M and Barbara W. Brown, Tapestry, a Living History of the Black Family in Southeastern Connecticut, page 71
7. ↑ "HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT", PHILADELPHIA, 1882 PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., PHILADELPHIA, CHAPTER X. Pages 144 - 148
8. ↑ New London County African Americans And People of Color Collection, 1701-1854 Judicial Department State Archives Record Group No. 003, online https://ctstatelibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NLCCAA.pdf on 2 Jan 2021.
9. ↑ Rose, James M and Barbara W. Brown, Tapestry, a Living History of the Black Family in Southeastern Connecticut, page 71
10. ↑ Perkins, Mary E., "Chronicles of a Connecticut Farm, 1769-1905, pp 33-34, published 1905.
11. ↑ Rose, James M and Barbara W. Brown, Tapestry, a Living History of the Black Family in Southeastern Connecticut, pp 71-72