Kidnapped at the end of June 1676, Jethro, the enslaved man of Captain Thomas Willett, of Swansea, MA, was being held captive by local Indigenous combatants. (1, 2) On July 6, he was rescued by William Bradford and the troops of Captain Moseley and Brattle, though it is unclear whether they recovered him from an Indigenous encampment or if they encountered Jethro after he had already escaped from his captors.
Regardless of how he had obtained his freedom, Jethro immediately sought the ear of Massachusetts officials. Informing them of discussions of a raid that he had overheard while in captivity, Jethro warned of an upcoming attack in Taunton, MA. As a result, on July 11, the Taunton colonists would successfully defend themselves against Indigenous forces..
While some may consider this act of bravery and loyalty to be worthy of manumission, the Plymouth Colony did not immediately free Jethro. Instead, on November 1, 1676, it was ruled that Jethro be required to serve an additional two years to the heirs of his enslaver before he was to be manumitted. During this two year period, John Saffin, the administrator of Captain Willett’s estate and his son-in-law, was required to provide for Jethro’s keeping. (3)
Both contemporary and modern scholarship are at odds as to which tribe had held Jethro captive - the Narragansett or the Wampanoag - though some primary materials reference the Narragansett. There is additional conflict as to when and how Jethro was manumitted; some say it was an immediate release from enslavement while other records, including court documents, state that he was expected to serve Willett’s executor, John Saffin, for an additional two years. As an enslaved Black man in the 17th century, few documents exist in Jethro’s own words outside of his court testimony and his existence and experiences have largely disappeared from the historical narrative. Scholar Roberto Flores de Apodaca recently addressed the experiences of Jethro and his status as a member of the “charter generation” of enslaved New Englanders in “’Jethro, Who Saved Taunton’: An African Man’s Captivity Narrative during King Philip’s War.” Journal of American Studies, 55 (2021), 5, 1178-1201.
As best can be determined from the available sources, Thomas Willet used the title “Captain” in reference to military service and not as a ship captain.
Jillian Galle, “Servants and Masters in the Plymouth Colony, Appendices I, II, and III on Plymouth Colony Laws, Court Orders, and Descriptive Statistics.” The Plymouth Colony Archive Project, 1998. November 1, 1676; Plymouth Colonial Records, 5: 216. “In reference vnto a negro named Jethro, taken prisoner by the Indians, and retaken againe by our army, which said negro appertained to the estate of the successors of Capt. Willett, deceased, our Generall Court haue agreed with Mr John Saffin, adminnestrator of the said estate, mutually, that the said negro doe forthwith betake himselfe to his former seruice, and to remaine a servant vnto the successors of the said Captaine Willett, vntill two yeers be expired from the date heerof, and then to be freed and sett att libertie from his said seruice, prouided, alsoe, that during the said terme of two yeers, they doe find him meat, drinke, and apparrell fitting for one oni his degree and calling, and att the end of his said seruice, that hee goe forth competently prouided for in reference to appareell.”
Translation: “In reference unto a negro named Jethro, taken prisoners by the Indians, and retaken again by our army, which said negro appertained to the estate of the successors of Capt. Willett, deceased, our General Court have agreed with Mr. John Saffin, administrator of the said estate, mutually, that the said negro do forthwith betake himself to his former service, and to remain a servant unto the successors of the said Captain Willett, until two years be expired from the date hereof, and then to be freed and set at liberty from his said service, provided, also, that during the said term of two years, they do find him meat, drink, and apparel fitting for one of his degree and calling, and at the end of this said service, that he go forth competently provided for in reference to apparel.”
John Saffin, the administrator of the Willett estate, would later become part of one of Massachusetts’ first freedom suits, brought against him by his enslaved man, Adam, after Saffin claimed that Adam had violated a termed manumission contract. Written in June 1694, the document hired Adam out to Saffin’s tenant, Thomas Sheapard, and guaranteed Adam’s freedom “out of meer love to & for the Incouragement of my Negro man [sic]” should Adam serve a seven year period on Boundfield farm in Bristol. There was one condition: Adam was to “goe on Chearfully Quiettly and Industerously” for Sheapard in order to receive his freedom. It was this term that Saffin claimed Adam had violated. See “Document signed by John Saffin regarding the emancipation of Adam (an enslaved person), 26 June 1694.” Miscellaneous Bound. Manuscripts. From the Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. This case has been covered by scholars dating back to the eighteenth century when Samuel Sewall first addressed it in his The Selling of Joseph (Boston: Bartholomew Green & John Allen, 1700) and John Saffin responded in A Brief and Candid Answer to a late Printed Sheet Entitled the Selling of Joseph (1701). In 1895, Abner C. Goodell republished A Brief and Candid Answer, as well as several other legal documents pertaining to the case, in “John Saffin and His Slave Adam,” Publications of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Vol. I, Transactions 1892-1894. (Boston: Published by the Society, 1895), 85-112. Among the modern scholars who have covered the case is historian Wendy A. Warren, who addresses it in her pivotal work, New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America (New York: Liveright Publishing Corp. 2016), 233-244.