Mary Prince

Mary Prince Timeline

 

•  Born at Brackish Pond, Devonshire, Bermuda. (Early Bermuda maps indicate a "Brackifh Pond" on the north shore of Devonshire Parish, but Brackish Pond was also the colloquial name for part of, or possibly the entirety of, Devonshire Parish.)

• Bought as an infant along with mother by “old” Captain George Darrell, and both are given to his granddaughter Betsey Williams as a "gift."

 

• Hired out to Mrs. Prudden to take care of the Prudden family's baby, Daniel.

• Sold at “Hamble Town” (Hamilton) auction for £57 Bermudian currency to Captain John Ingham of Spanish Point, Pembroke Parish, Bermuda. (Spanish Poiunt was the colloquial name for the western part of Pembroke Parish.)

                       

• February 19th earthquake in Bermuda. Soon after earthquake runs away to mother at Richard Darrell’s, which is Cavendish, Devonshire.

 

• Sent to Grand Turk Island and purchased there at auction for £100 Bermudian currency by Robert Darrell. (This probably happens prior to 1803.)

 

• Returns to Bermuda with Robert Darrell.

 

• Great August Hurricane hits Grand Turk Island, and ponds are overflowed with sand. Hired out to work at Cedar Hill.

 

• Leaves for Antigua with John Adams Wood Jr. who purchases her for £100 Bermudian currency upon arrival at Antigua.

 

• Appears in Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies for Antigua. Also appears in the 1821, 1824, and 1828 Slave Registers for that territory.

• Is baptized in November at the English (Anglican) Church by Rev. James Curtin.

 

• Begins attending meetings at Spring Gardens Moravian Church 

 

• Mrs. Richter, one of the Moravian missionaries who taught Mary to read the bible, passes away in December.

 

• Marries Daniel James at Spring Gardens Moravian Church at Christmas. Rev. Jens Olufson performs the ceremony.

 

• Leaves for London, England, in late July or early August.

• Walks out Woods’ door to freedom in late August or September.

• Arrives at London Anti-Slavery Society in November, and Pringle accompanies her to law office of George Stephen.

 

• Petition presented to Parliament on June 24th.

• Works for Mrs. Forsyth in spring/summer.

• In December, begins working for Thomas Pringle and his wife as a domestic servant.

• Woods leave for Antigua.

 

• Receives letter from husband Daniel James in April.

• In July or August, Pringle uses social and political connections in Antigua (Governor Patrick Ross and Moravian pastor Joseph Newby) to pressure Wood to manumit Prince, but it is to no avail.

• Wood’s 20 October 1830 letter to Ross’s secretary Taylor is given to Pringle. Upon receipt of this letter, Pringle decides to go ahead with the storytelling, compiling, and writing project.

 

• Slave narrative is published the latter part of February. It goes to print three times this year.

• Ashton Warner’s slave narrative, Negro Slavery Described, is published close on the heels of Prince’s The History of Mary Prince.

 

• John Adams Wood’s declaration in the Slave Register for Antigua says “and except Molly who accompanied me to England and there quitted my service.”

 

• Appears as witness in February 21st Pringle v. Cadell court case, and in a second court case, Wood v. Pringle, on February 27th.

• Slavery Abolition Act gets Royal Assent on August 28th.

• Possibly returns to Antigua in the fall.

 

• Daniel James listed January 12th in the No. 3, Exclusion List, St. John’s, Antigua, October 20, 1833 to ___ where this is recorded: “Proved to have been in the custom of fiddling at dances in the Town; and, by the acknowledgement of both parties to have lived in concubinage with Mary Ann Williams, during the absence of his Wife (Mary Prince) in England.”