Dinah, an enslaved person, was sold to Eleazar Wheelock in 1769 by his son-in-law, Alexander Phelps
On January 30, 1769, a woman named Dinah was sold to Eleazar Wheelock by his son-in-law, Alexander Phelps, for the sum of £50. Dinah was thought to be about 20 years old at the time, though a refund with interest is promised if she should die or become “useless.” It is possible that Wheelock’s daughter, Theodora, and her husband were forced to sell Dinah due to financial difficulties; only three months later, Theodora writes to her father to borrow Dinah back, assuring him that the state of her and her husband’s debts are such that Wheelock need not worry about Dinah being seized as an “attachment.”
The type of labor to which Dinah was put, or her fate beyond these records remains unknown.