[caption id="attachment_4117" align="alignnone" width="850"] West Indian (Jamaican) migrant workers cultivating tobacco under shade netting on the DuBon farm of the Imperial Agricultural Corp. in Windsor in the 1950s. WHS collections 1993.6.2, gift of Bob Silliman. [/caption] What would it be like to come to this town after a harrowing ocean voyage and adjust to a new climate, new foods, new working conditions, and racial prejudice, as well? Fay Clarke Johnson tells the story of Jamaicans who left their lovely, temperate island to find work in the Connecticut River Valley during World War II in her 1995 book Soldiers of the Soil . In 2002, she gave us permission to adapt the following from her book: “Keep the Boys In Smokes” This was the motto appearing on billboards and newspapers. “The Boys” were young American men converted to soldiers in WWII when lung cancer was unknown in the 1940s. It was fashionable to smoke. It was soothing to smoke, and the Connecticut River Valley provided some of the world’s finest tobacco. If the young men who worked the tobacco fields were in Europe soldiering, who would grow and process the tobacco? The answer came from imported help, and the Valley’s large growers turned their eyes south for the help they needed. Young Jamaican men, descendants of slaves, jumped at the chance to better themselves and come to the States. They left their war-devastated farms for Montego Bay, where they were recruited and boarded the SS Shank , aka “The Starvation Boat.” There were 5,200 underfed people on this ship, which tilted so dangerously there were restrictions on how many passengers could stay on which side of the ship. Night time lights and lit cigarettes were taboo for fear of being torpedoed. These ships were attacked by German U-boats, and large sharks were visible in the sea from the overloaded decks. They sailed up the Mississippi River, and the newcomers were unloaded in army barracks. They were told that people up north thought they were monkeys and that they had tails. When they arrived in Miami, they were taken from the ships by truck to a place called “the Monkey Jungle.” The Jamaicans had no control over which farms the US Government would send them but they quickly prayed for a job in the north where racial prejudice was not so blatant. [caption id="attachment_4120" align="alignnone" width="850"] Jamaican men and local women pulling plants from seedbeds on the DuBon farm, 1950s. WHS collections 1993.6.24, gift of Bob Silliman. [/caption] In May 1943 thirteen hundred Jamaican men arrived in Connecticut. By July nearly 800 were working the 5,500 acres of shade tobacco. Some were dispersed to dairy, potato, beef, or chicken farms. And it was good! Local farm associations praised the diligent newcomers and their accomplishments. They were paid $4.50 for a nine-hour work day. They resided in camps, sometimes as big as 500 men in a camp. One dollar per day was deducted from their pay and sent to their Jamaican families for support. At the end of the 1943 season, they headed for home before the snows came. Some lingered in Florida for more farm work before returning to their island homes. [caption id="attachment_4119" align="alignnone" width="850"] Workers riding a two-row Bemis setter to plant tobacco at the DuBon Farm, 1950s. WHS collections 1993.6.10, gift of Bob Silliman. [/caption] The next year they returned for more work and the year after. When the war ended in 1945, the Jamaicans would have been sent home forever until the U.S. government realized that the homecoming soldiers would be working in Connecticut’s converted war plants, thus leaving fewer workers for agriculture. The future of the Jamaican workers was questionable. One of the workers, Alfred Chambers, explained the situation: They brought a lot of the Polish guys over here because they had used them as spies to get into Germany so that was kind of a compensation for them. I used to drive a bus and a truck on the farm. One day the boss said to me, “Let this guy drive; you accompany him and show him the area where you go.” I told him I was not going to do that. I went home without a job. The Jamaicans were being substituted by displaced persons from the war in Europe. However, our migrant workers had learned that if they resided in the states for seven years, they were entitled to a permanent visa. They sought legal help and soon found themselves living as permanent residents in America. Fay tells us, “Making a life on their own and surviving in the community at large was the new challenge facing the farm workers. …Finding places to live was more difficult than they could imagine. They relied mostly on help from their local churches.” They needed to help each other with their new lives and started by establishing the West Indian Social Club. Its focus was the game of cricket, but it quickly became their home away from home. [caption id="attachment_4124" align="alignnone" width="850"] Wedding party of Oliver and Willie Mae Milward, 1946. Oliver Milward and Lancelot Gordon Sr. (standing behind and to the right of the groom) were both Jamaican farm workers and founding members of the West Indian Social Club of Hartford. WHS collections 2018.3.1, gift of Mark Milward. [/caption] Recording Their Story The Club is where Fay Johnson met the Jamaican workers 50 years after they entered the Connecticut River Valley tobacco fields. They were very proud of their club, eager to find young people to carry on the traditions they had established and honor their Jamaican community’s early history. Fay interviewed seven men from the club; and, with the help of St. Joseph College, was able to record their stories into this book. Originally published in the Windsor Historical Society Newsletter , January, 2002.

Kitchen of the Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee House, photo by Christina Vida They worked in the kitchen from dawn to dusk cooking three meals a day. They washed and ironed clothes, sheets, and towels. They mended socks and spun yarn. They emptied chamber pots every morning after sleeping in basements and attics. And they were supposed to be invisible whenever guests came calling. Who are ‘they’? They are the female slaves of Windsor’s Chaffee family. For years we have known that Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee, Jr. (1762-1821) and his wife Charlotte (1764-1812) owned Nancy Toney (1775-1857). We also knew that Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee (1731-1819) owned Betty Stevenson (b. 1791) and her mother, whose name is still unknown. While searching for Windsor records in a LexisNexis database in 2011, I discovered that Dr. Chaffee owned another slave – Sarah . Buried in a long-forgotten court record, we still know only pieces of Sarah’s story. In 1795 Dr. Chaffee purchased Sarah from Jonathan Butler (1760-1830) of Hartford. Sarah worked in the Chaffee household alongside Betty Stevenson (aged 4 at the time) and possibly with Betty’s mother, who had been there in 1791. Nancy Toney lived next door, and the three enslaved women and young Betty might have shared the burdens of laundry and household chores. Sarah belonged to the Chaffee family for only six years – in 1801 Hezekiah Chaffee manumitted her. Sarah would have been in her thirties or early forties in 1801, and she could have continued to work as a domestic servant to earn a living. Around the same time that Sarah gained her freedom, the Butler family released her illegitimate daughter, Fanny Libbet (b. 1785), from servitude. Sixteen-year-old Fanny came to Windsor, presumably where Sarah had stayed after being freed. Within six months of moving to Windsor, Fanny became “chargeable” to the Town of Windsor, meaning she could not financially support herself. We know little of Sarah or Fanny until the Town of Windsor sued the Town of Hartford in 1817 for the cost of supporting Fanny and her two illegitimate children (Sarah’s grandchildren). Because Fanny was born in Hartford, the Supreme Court of Errors found in favor of Windsor and required Hartford to pay Windsor for taking care of Fanny and her children. But where was Sarah in 1817? Did she remain in Windsor? It is difficult to pinpoint if she was still in Windsor in 1810 as that year’s census merely listed fifty “other free persons” – usually the town’s people of color. Unfortunately, the 1810 census did not describe the age or sex of any non-white free people. Perhaps Sarah was one of the five “free colored” women over the age of forty-five in Windsor in 1820. Did she marry? Did she continue to work as a domestic servant? Unless new documents or records come to light, we may never know what happened to Sarah after she left the Chaffee household. But she will not be forgotten again. Since re-discovering Sarah, we have included her in the interpretation of the Dr. Hezekiah Chaffee house, and we continue to strive to learn more about Windsor’s enslaved population who have been silenced by history. By Christina Vida, Curator, 2011

African Americans Archives | Windsor Historical Society

The Ballad of Mack Street

Michelle Tom2019-06-12T14:54:04-04:00April 19th, 2019|Tags: African Americans, brick making, Mack|

The following is a transcript (edited for space and clarity) from a June 2004 interview between Dr. Daniel Mack and WHS executive director Christine Ermenc. Dr. Mack discusses his family's brickyard on Mack Street in [...]

Volunteer Profile: Carlton Parkinson

Michelle Tom2019-02-13T12:04:20-05:00November 28th, 2018|Tags: African Americans, Jamaicans, tobacco, volunteers, West Indians|

One of our dear volunteers, Carlton Parkinson, passed away two weeks ago. We’ll miss him tremendously at Windsor Historical Society. He inspired hundreds of school children to understand and to care a little more about the place they live in. We're re-publishing an interview we conducted with Carl in 2010 in his memory.

“I am contented to be what I am, so long as I have my rights.” -Joseph Rainey

Michelle Tom2019-02-13T12:06:02-05:00August 7th, 2018|Tags: African Americans, Rainey|

The above was quoted from the December 1995 issue of Life Magazine, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of his first day in office as a United States Representative. We know Mr. Rainey as a summer resident of Windsor who lived at 299 Palisado Avenue.

Soldiers of the Soil

Michelle Tom2019-02-13T12:13:56-05:00June 25th, 2018|Tags: African Americans, agriculture, farming, immigration, Jamaicans, tobacco, WWII|

What would it be like to come to this town after a harrowing ocean voyage and adjust to a new climate, new foods, new working conditions, and racial prejudice, as well? Fay Clarke Johnson tells the story of Jamaicans who left their lovely, temperate island to find work in the Connecticut River Valley during WWII in her 1995 book Soldiers of the Soil.

The Hayden Station School

Michelle Tom2019-02-13T11:56:02-05:00March 6th, 2018|Tags: African Americans, buildings, Hayden Station, schools|

You may have driven by this lovely building at 853 Palisado Avenue. In 1896 when it was erected, Windsor was divided into 10 school districts. The northern end of Route 159, known as Hayden Station, was called School District No. 6 and had 55 students between the ages of 4 and 16 years old.

Moses and Oliver Mitchell: Portraits of Two Late 18th-Century African Americans in Windsor

Michelle Tom2019-02-13T12:16:24-05:00February 12th, 2018|Tags: African Americans, churches|

The first black household in the area of Windsor north of the Farmington River was probably that of Moses Mitchell, who bought his first recorded piece of property here in 1791. Moses's brother Oliver came from East Windsor in 1797, buying a piece of property with "two dwelling houses" on the west bank of the Connecticut River near the Scantic Ferry.

Sandy Archer and the Archer Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church

Michelle Tom2019-02-14T10:49:16-05:00August 28th, 2017|Tags: African Americans, cemeteries, churches|

There are two sites in Windsor named after someone called Archer: Archer Road, which runs north from Kennedy Road all the way to Windsor Locks, and the nearby Archer Memorial AME Zion Church. But who [...]

Remembering Sarah

Michelle Tom2019-07-02T11:28:46-04:00June 12th, 2017|Tags: African Americans, Chaffee, Chaffee House, slavery|

They worked in the kitchen from dawn to dusk cooking, washing, and ironing. They emptied chamber pots every morning after sleeping in basements and attics. And they were supposed to be invisible whenever guests came calling. Who are ‘they’? They are the slaves of Windsor’s Chaffee family.