September 12, 2023
Elijah, an enslaved person, worked on Eleazar Wheelock's farm in Connecticut
BIOGRAPHY
Very little is known about Elijah. Named for the prophet in keeping with a convention of naming enslaved persons after biblical figures, Elijah appears to have been one of the several men enslaved by Eleazar Wheelock and put to manual labor at one of Wheelock’s farms in the Colony of Connecticut.
Elijah was also used as a source of income. An account-book entry from 1754 shows that Elijah, along with an enslaved man named Fortune, was hired out to a local farmer to assist in pulling turnips. Beyond this glimpse of Elijah’s life as an enslaved person, nothing more is known.