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Witness Stone to Be Installed during Juneteenth

WSP · Jun 2, 2021 ·

By Bill Sullivan in the Suffield Observer on June 1, 2021

The Suffield Historical Society’s (SHS) online class will ceremoniously install a Witness Stone memorial for Tamer (1770-1829) on June 19 at 10:00 a.m. In collaboration with its community partner, ABAR Suffield, the SHS class will gather speakers and musicians on the town’s gazebo on the north green and be a component of Suffield’s first Juneteenth program. Featured guests include descendants of Venture Smith, who was Tamer’s father-in-law. The SHS Facebook page will provide updated details about the installation ceremony. Continue reading.

Commemorating the Lives of Enslaved People in Connecticut

WSP · May 21, 2021 ·

By Tess Terribile and Nancy Nalpathanchil of Where We Live

How should we remember painful events in our history? There are more than 70 Witness Stones installed throughout our state. The markers commemorate the lives of the enslaved people that lived in Connecticut.

Witness Stones Project Executive Director Dennis Culliton joins Bill Sullivan of the Suffield Historical Society Trustee and Suffield Academy, and Susi Ryan, a fiber artist and descendent of Venture Smith, for this discussion.

Remarkable Discoveries

WSP · Mar 30, 2021 ·

Notations on the back of Tamar’s 1777 bill of sale to Luther Loomis. Photo: Bill Sullivan, Suffield Historical Society.

By Bill Sullivan in the Suffield Observer on March 30, 2021

The Suffield Historical Society’s April 13 meeting will be devoted to updating our community on intriguing developments regarding the research and installation of two Witness Stones Memorials. The meeting is open to the public, and newcomers are most welcomed. Please attend the 7 p.m. program by accessing the Zoom link below.

The first project began early last fall when the Society hosted an online class for adults interested in learning about Tamer (aka Tamar). She was enslaved by Comfort Smith and Luther Loomis from the 1770s until 1798, when Solomon Smith, son of Venture Smith, purchased her freedom for marriage. The class was originally planned for three separate nights, and then many original discoveries extended this online class throughout the winter months and now into the spring. Continue reading.

Witness Stones Project Memorial for Tamer

WSP · Oct 30, 2020 ·

This 1777 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Tamer is one of the many treasured documents archived in the Kent Memorial Library’s historical room. Photo credit: Bill Sullivan, Suffield Historical Society.

By Bill Sullivan, Suffield Historical Society, published in the Suffield Observer on October 30, 2020.

The Suffield Historical Society hosted Dennis Culliton, chair and co-founder of the Witness Stones Project, during three online classes during October. Using a document-based approach to understanding slavery in colonial New England, Culliton helped the class build a narrative about an enslaved woman named Tamar by examining a bill of sale document, a marriage record, and other historical records. Continue reading.

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