Infant Child

In Eleazar Wheelock’s 1779 will, several enslaved people are mentioned by name. Some—such as Brister, Exeter and Chloe—appear in other documents that tell something of their lives. Three—Ama, Selinda and an “infant child”—appear only in the will, bequeathed to Wheelock’s son, John. Their origins, work and ultimate fates remain unknown, yet they point to the probability that the number of persons enslaved by Wheelock is larger than the extant record attests.