Selinda, an enslaved person, was mentioned in Eleazar Wheelock's will
Selinda is one of several enslaved people mentioned only in Eleazar Wheelock’s 1779 will. She was bequeathed to Wheelock’s son, John, but a letter dated October, 1779, likely written for her, indicates that she was either given or sold to Jabez Bingham after Eleazar’s death. In the letter, addressed to the enslaved man Brister, she says she has heard of Brister’s request that Bingham free her so that she and Brister can marry. While she says she is happy in her circumstances in South Hadley, Massachusetts, she would prefer to marry Brister and gain her freedom. It appears that this plan was never realized since later documentation lists Brister’s wife as a woman named Lavinia.1
Notes
1. Selinda Welch to Brister Wheelock, October 26, 1779, Mss 779576, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.