56 Facts About Paul Cuffe

Paul Cuffe's mother, Ruth Moses, was a Wampanoag from Harwich, Cape Cod and his father an Ashanti captured as a child in West Africa and sold into slavery in Newport about 1720.

Paul Cuffe built his own ships in a boatyard on the Westport River.

Paul Cuffe often spoke at the Sunday services at the Westport Meeting House and at other Quaker meetings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Paul Cuffe became involved in the British effort to found a colony in Sierra Leone, to which the British had transported more than 1,000 former slaves originally from America.

At the urging of leading British abolitionists, in 1810 Paul Cuffe sailed to Sierra Leone to learn about conditions for the settlers and whether he could help them.

Paul Cuffe concluded that efforts should be made to increase the local production of exportable commodities and develop their own shipping capabilities rather than continuing to export freed slaves.

Paul Cuffe sailed to England to meet with members of The African Institution, who were leading abolitionists.

Paul Cuffe offered his recommendations to improve the lives of all the people in Sierra Leone.

Paul Cuffe's recommendations were well received in London and he subsequently made two more trips to Sierra Leone to try to implement them.

Paul Cuffe believed his efforts in providing training, machinery and ships to the people of Africa would enable them to improve their lives and rise in the world.

Paul Cuffe was the youngest son of Coffe Slocum and his wife Ruth Moses.

Paul Cuffe was a member of the Wampanoag Nation, and had been born and raised on Cape Cod.

Paul Cuffe hired Kofi Slocum to care for those sheep; in about 1750 Kofi moved with his family to the westernmost island, known as Cuttyhunk.

In 1773, the year after his father's death and again in 1775, Paul Cuffe sailed on whaling ships, getting a chance to learn navigation.

Paul Cuffe returned to his family in what is Westport, Massachusetts.

Paul Cuffe was waylaid by pirates on this and several subsequent voyages.

Paul Cuffe reportedly continued to make these trips to Nantucket throughout the war.

Paul Cuffe gradually built up capital and expanded to a fleet of ships.

Paul Cuffe continued to build ships for the next 25 years.

In 1799 Paul Cuffe added to his shipyard property, increasing it from 0.22 acres to 0.33 acres to provide more room for both his family home and the boatyard.

Paul Cuffe's first recorded property purchase in 1789 was the 0.22-acre lot on the Acoaxet River where he first located his boatyard and then his home.

Paul Cuffe added to that lot in 1799 by acquiring a 0.11-acre abutting property on the south side of his boatyard.

Also in 1799 Paul Cuffe bought two large properties from a Westport neighbor, Ebenezer Eddy.

From this record it appears that Paul Cuffe bought the property for the Wainers with the understanding that they would buy the property from him when they were able.

Michael Wainer and Paul Cuffe remained partners, with Wainer's sons captaining and crewing most of the ships.

Some years later, in 1813, Paul Cuffe purchased from David Soule a roughly 4-acre property abutting his boatyard and home on the north and west.

Paul Cuffe had for some years taken an interest in the colonial settlements in Africa.

From March 1807 on, Paul Cuffe was encouraged by Quaker and abolitionist friends in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York City to help the fledgling efforts to improve Sierra Leone.

Paul Cuffe mulled over the logistics and chances of success for the movement before deciding in 1809 to join the project.

Paul Cuffe traveled the area and investigated the social and economic conditions of the region.

Paul Cuffe met with some of the colony's officials, who were opposed to American commercial vessels coming to Sierra Leone and competing with local merchants.

On Sunday, April 7,1811, Paul Cuffe met with the foremost black entrepreneurs of the colony.

At the invitation of the African Institution, Paul Cuffe sailed to Britain to secure further aid for the colony, arriving in Liverpool in July, 1811.

Paul Cuffe was warmly received by the heads of the African Institution in London, and they raised some money for the Friendly Society.

Paul Cuffe was granted governmental permission and license to continue his mission in Sierra Leone.

Paul Cuffe stayed with British officials and merchants in London and Liverpool, who were very hospitable and respectful of the intelligent, dedicated, and hard-working African-American Quaker merchant who was full of positive ideas about what might be done to improve the colony of Sierra Leone and bring development to the African people.

When Paul Cuffe reached Newport in April 1812, his ship the Traveller was seized by US customs agents, along with all its goods.

Paul Cuffe was able to meet with Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin and President James Madison.

Paul Cuffe intended to return to Sierra Leone regularly, but in June 1812 the war started.

Paul Cuffe despaired of the interruption of trade and efforts to improve Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, Paul Cuffe visited Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, speaking to groups of free blacks about the colony.

Paul Cuffe urged blacks to form Friendly Societies in these cities, communicate with each other, and correspond with the African Institution and with the Friendly Society in Sierra Leone.

Paul Cuffe printed a pamphlet about Sierra Leone to inform the general public of the conditions in the colony and his ideas about bringing progress there.

Paul Cuffe sailed out of Westport on December 10,1815, with thirty-eight free black colonists: eighteen adults and twenty children, ranging in age from eight months to sixty years old.

Paul Cuffe believed that once regular trade between the United States, Europe, and Africa began, the society would prosper.

Paul Cuffe knew he needed stronger financial backing before undertaking another such expedition.

On his return to New York in 1816, Paul Cuffe exhibited to the New York chapter of the African Institution the certificates of the landing of those colonists at Sierra Leone.

Paul Cuffe was alarmed at the overt racism displayed by many members of the ACS, who included slaveholders.

Paul Cuffe never returned to Africa, and died in Westport on September 7,1817.

Paul Cuffe's will bequeathed property and money to his widow, siblings, children, grandchildren, the widow and heirs of Benjamin Cook, and the Friends Meeting House in Westport.

Paul Cuffe is buried in the graveyard behind the Westport Friends Meeting House and his wife was later buried next to him.

Henry Noble Sherwood, who wrote one of the first biographies about Paul Cuffe that is included in the references and further reading, summed up his life in the final paragraph of that work as follows:.

Paul Cuffe believed in the victory of righteousness; therefore, he worked for it.

Paul Cuffe believed in the triumph of truth; therefore, he dedicated himself to it.

Paul Cuffe realized the mastery of poverty; therefore, he gave pursuit to wealth.

Paul Cuffe believed in the amelioration of his race; therefore, he consecrated himself to it.