Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff.
Roxbury resident and subway operator Aaron Haynes was cleaning his house when he found his ancestor’s freedom paper, issued in the 1830s. Few of these have survived.

I found this story about a young man who discovered his ancestor’s freedom paper very moving. There are few such documents in existence because, prior to nationwide emancipation, free black men and women needed to carry papers all the time to protect themselves from unlawful arrest. It made me think of others we know of who suddenly had to start carrying their papers everywhere.

Claire Thornton reports the Boston story at the Boston Globe. “Aaron Haynes gets choked up when he thinks about what the faded piece of parchment represents: a lineage spanning centuries, and most importantly, his ancestor’s freedom from enslavement.

“Haynes, who works as a operator on the MBTA’s Green Line, began exploring his family genealogy this winter after finding an original freedom paper belonging to one of his ancestors. The documents were proof that an African American person was free in the years before slavery was abolished. Without the papers, individuals risked being kidnapped and unlawfully sold into slavery.

‘We got so excited, because we were like, “That definitely looks real.” ‘

“Haynes’s ancestor’s document, issued in 1834, was passed down through generations to his grandmother, and stored in a hutch in his mother’s Roxbury home. He stumbled across it while cleaning, as he was dusting the contents of the old cabinet.

“Issued nearly 200 years ago to 21-year-old Samuel Jones in Baltimore County, Maryland, the document identifies Jones based on his physical features.

“It was signed by a court official certifying that Jones was ‘born free,’ the document says. …

“ ‘I’m getting choked up, the fact that we have this and it’s tangible. … I feel like I’m in an ancestral plane, at arm’s length from imagining what Samuel Jones looked like, what he sounded like,’ said Haynes, 34.

“In the early 1800s, African Americans — including many like Jones who were born free — carried their freedom papers on their person to protect against being captured and sold into slavery, according to historians. Original freedom documents are exceedingly rare, experts said.

” ‘I’ve never held an original freedom paper in my hand before — I‘ve only seen them digitized,’ said Lindsay Fulton, chief research officer at American Ancestors, a family history nonprofit in the Back Bay.

“Archives at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and an exhibit at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh house two of the largest collections of freedom papers, Fulton said. The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., also has freedom papers on display.

“Samuel Jones would have stored his freedom paper somewhere safe after receiving it in 1834, Fulton said. When it was passed down to Haynes’s mother, it was in a smaller leather folder, and it’s been remarkably well-preserved.

“ ‘The reason these documents were so critical, and in many cases saved and passed down through generations, was because they are the key to avoiding enslavement or re-enslavement right after freedom,’ said Kendra Field, chief historian of American Ancestors’ 10 Million Names project cataloguing identities of people enslaved in the US.

“At first, Haynes said, he didn’t know where he could take the document to learn more about it. … In January, Haynes saw the American Ancestors building when he was on Newbury Street. When he showed researchers there the document, they immediately knew it was an stunning piece of history.

“ ‘We got so excited, because we were like, “That definitely looks real,” ‘ Fulton said.

“Field said the document is what historians call a certificate of freedom, because it was issued by a court. … Samuel Jones’s certificate of freedom says he was 5 feet, 7 inches tall, he had a ‘light complexion’ and ‘a small scar on his left hand.’

“A Baltimore County Court wax seal dating from 1817 was stamped on the bottom left corner. The document isn’t made of paper, but rather parchment, which is more durable. The document says Jones was ‘born free’ in Anne Arundel County, which includes state capital Annapolis.

“Because the document was issued in Baltimore County, it’s possible Jones got his freedom papers after moving away from his hometown to seek work at age 21, Fulton said. It’s also possible Jones sought the document because he was in a new place with fewer relatives and connections, she said.

“Haynes and other family members are researching their ancestry further after the discovery, tracing their lineage south of the Mason-Dixon line, which they didn’t know much about before.

“ ‘I’m proud that my son didn’t worry about what he might learn,’ said Haynes’s mother, Michelle Kendrick. ‘Every family has a history, and he stepped into wanting to know his history and that’s a big step for anyone to take.’

“Kendrick, 58, has lived in Roxbury her whole life, she said. The home of her grandmother, also in Roxbury, caught fire when Kendrick was a child and many family heirlooms were destroyed, she said. Jones’s certificate of freedom was salvaged.”

More at the Globe, here.