A Free Man: Amos Fortune
Amos Fortune was enslaved in his early life, and he overcame many obstacles to become a free man.
Amos Fortune was born in Africa. His original name was At-Mun. In 1725, when At-mun was 15 years old, he was put on a slave ship. The ship docked at Boston and At-mum was sold to Caleb Copeland, a Quaker who lived there.
Caleb taught Amos to read and write English and he introduced him to the Word of God. Caleb planned to give Amos his freedom, but before he could, he died.
Amos was auctioned off to a tanner in Woburn, Massachusetts named Ichabod Richardson. Ichabod treated Amos like an apprentice, and paid him as he would the white apprentices. Amos eventually bought his own freedom from the money he made tanning hides.
From that day forward, Amos was free. After buying his own freedom, Amos bought and freed two other slaves, a woman named Violet, who he married, and Celyndia, their adopted daughter.
Amos moved to Jaffrey to start his own tannery. A kind minister named Ainsworth loaned Amos some of his land to build a house and start his business.
Because Amos was a man of integrity, and his leather was of high quality, his business grew. Soon, he had enough money to buy his own land and house.
For the rest of Amos’s life, he would buy slave’s freedom at slave auctions.
In 1801, Amos Fortune died at the age of 91. After his death, his money was used to start a school and purchase a silver communion set for the church he attended.
