The Story of Cajoe
A Student Essay by Lorelai Burke
Cajoe was most likely born in Ghana, Togo, or Benin in West Africa around 1728. His name is derived from the Kwa language of the Akan ethnic group. His name would have been Kojo or Kwadwo, which stands for the day Monday associated with the deity Lord of Life Firmament. Based on this naming tradition, Cajoe was most likely born on a Monday.
He was taken from Africa and enslaved by a man named Captain Amos Morris, who lived in what is now known today as the Pardee-Morris House in New Haven. The house burned down in 1779 during a British raid in the Revolutionary War, and was rebuilt in 1780. That house is the one that still stands today.
Morris was “an established figure in local politics,” and was a descendant of the founders of New Haven, meaning he was a very important man in the town at the time.
Capt.Amos Morris was on a committee with his brother to build a meetinghouse for the town in 1772. Cajoe may have helped build the meeting house, as it is known that some of Capt. Morris’ slaves worked on it.
Cajoe also may have worked in the oyster beds or salt works. Oysters were a reliable food source for both Native Americans and colonists and they were protected by state law in order to keep the supply stable, sustainable, and as plentiful as it was during that time. Captain Morris owned oyster beds most likely through being passed down through generations as that practice was common at the time, and they were a profitable business in Connecticut.
Morris became an entrepreneur for salt works because it was in low supply and high demand. In the 1700s America imported large amounts of salt from overseas. Salt was important for flavor and storing foods that would otherwise spoil. During the Revolutionary War those ships bringing in the salt were shortened, salt became valuable because the amount was limited. When Amos Morris realized that the salt works were now profitable, and he started to work in the salt works.
Morris’s time with the salt works was only about six years since a British raid along the Connecticut coast ruined his supplies for the salt works beyond repair. He never bothered to rebuild the materials, and eventually salt production was halted forever in East Haven which later rejoined New Haven.
Cajoe married an enslaved woman named Jenny on April 4, 1770, which was a sign of agency. Marriage among enslaved people was illegal and they married each other anyway, despite those laws. Before meeting Cajoe, Jenny had a child with Jack. They named their daughter Clorinda.
Clorinda was baptized “in private”, likely on her deathbed. After Clorinda died, Cajoe and Jenny had a daughter they also named Clorinda. In the 1700s medicine was not as advanced as it is now, so death due to illnesses were common, and young child deaths were even more common.
Unfortunately, Cajoe and Jenny’s daughter died as well, at about the age of four, named after the dead Clorinda. During the 1700s, medicine was not as advanced as it is now, so people died of illness easily. If children died, parents would name their next child of the same sex, after the previous one who passed. This is what Jenny did since the first Clorinda died.
Cajoe died by drowning on December 25, 1773, the same year his daughter died. There was no formal inquiry on his death, meaning that Morris could have swayed the police so that there would be no rumor or accusation that would ruin his good reputation. Cajoe died during oyster harvest season, so he could have died trying to gather oysters.
Cajoe also could have committed suicide to return to his ancestors and cross worlds. During the time period of slavery, there was a wide belief among African Enslaved People that if they leaped into water, flying before death, that it was considered freedom and would reunite with dead loved ones and ancestors from your homeland.
Jenny died on January 6, 1794 at about 76 years old. We think the record that showed her age at death may have been wrong about her age, as it would have meant she had a baby at 52 which is not unheard of, but not likely, especially during that time. There was no master identified upon her death, so she could have been freed for about 20 years before her death because her last known master died 20 years earlier.
We may never know what truly happened to Cajoe, but we know that he was a person and deserves to be remembered as such just like anyone else. By restoring Cajoe’s humanity, we are not only acknowledging his life as a slave, but remembering the person that lived through the horrors of being one.
