Venture Smith - A Free Man

A Free Man

Smith moved to Long Island. In 1769, after cutting wood and living frugally for four years, Smith purchased his sons, Solomon and Cuff. He then purchased a black slave for sixty pounds, but the man ran away without repaying him.

Venture Smith suffered his first tragedy as a freedman when Solomon died from scurvy on a whaling expedition in 1773. That same year, Smith purchased his pregnant wife Meg from Thomas Stanton. When the child was born, he was named Solomon, in memory of his deceased brother. With the purchase of his daughter Hannah in 1775, Venture Smith had freed his entire family.

Venture Smith spent the remainder of his life in Haddam Neck, Connecticut, on a farm that he bought in 1776. He made a living by fishing, whaling, farming his land, and trading on the Salmon River, located near his residence.

In 1798, Smith relayed his life experiences to Connecticut schoolteacher and Revolutionary War veteran Elisha Niles, who published it. The narrative is the subject of some contention, regarded in many instances as "whitewashed" and inauthentic. It was suspected that the white editor manipulated Smith's story, a common practice among editors of slave narratives.

Venture Smith died in 1805.

Smith (or his editor) claimed that he was well over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, weighed 300 pounds (140 kg), and carried a 9-pound (4.1 kg) axe for felling trees. From these and other elements of his life, Smith became known as the black Paul Bunyan.