Sylvia Torrey was kidnapped as girl from West Africa. After a trans-Atlantic trip that would have lasted around 80 days, she was sold to Matthew Robinson of Newport, Rhode Island. She married Cuffee Torrey and had a least one son, Lewis, with him. Lewis was born free in 1784. His status as free person was the result of the Rhode Island Gradual Emancipation Law, which was created the same year.
Sylvia had three other children before Lewis: Bethany born in 1768, Patience born in 1770, and John born in 1780. In 1795, upon the death of her enslaver, Robinson, Sylvia and her daughter Patience were emancipated.
She was known in the community as a fortune teller. After her emancipation, she earned enough money to purchase property on Ministerial Road. We believe she lived there with her husband Cuffee. By 1830, she is listed as the head of the household in census records. In 1849, while living with her daughter, Bethany, Syvlia’s clothing caught fire in the house, and she died. Her daughter donated land near Curtis Corner Road to establish the Sylvia Torrey Cemetery. Sylvia’s gravestone is unmarked, but her granddaughter’s grave is nearby.
