{"id":17236,"date":"2025-01-13T23:36:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T04:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/?p=17236"},"modified":"2025-01-17T10:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T15:59:53","slug":"regarding-free-henry-hypothesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/regarding-free-henry-hypothesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Regarding Free Henry Hypothesis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Regarding Free Henry Hypothesis<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Dalley Eight in 1780 – Part 2<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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In late 2024 Statutesandstories.com discovered the identity of members of the founding generation who boarded with Mary Dalley in 1780. Mary Dalley\u2019s eight boarders (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>the Mary Dalley Eight in 1780\u201d \u2013 Part 1) <\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0included Samuel Adams, Gouverneur Morris and General Alexander McDougall. Six of Miss Dalley\u2019s boarders in 1780 were Congressional delegates from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Several boarders would become members and\/or leaders of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and the New York Manumission Society. Yet, the most tantalizing evidence recently uncovered in the 1780 Philadelphia tax records[1]<\/a> is the revelation that Miss Dalley employed a \u201cfree Negro servant\u201d named Henry.<\/p>\n

This post (\u201cRegarding Free Henry<\/span>\u201d)<\/strong> focuses on Henry, a \u201chired servant\u201d employed by Miss Dalley. It is clear that Henry lived and worked in close proximity along with Samuel Adams, Gouverneur Morris and other members of Congress during the Revolutionary War. The prospect that Henry might have been present at Miss Dalley\u2019s boarding house seven years later – during the Constitutional Convention – remains an open question.<\/p>\n

Part 1<\/strong><\/span><\/a> launched the \u201cWhat about Henry?\u201d investigation to better understand the \u201cMary Dalley Eight in 1780\u201d and their interactions with Henry. In an effort to shine a spotlight on Henry, Statutesandstories.com invited researchers and scholars to assist with this ongoing investigation. Part 2 below offers a hypothesis as to Henry\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

The Regarding Free Henry Hypothesis<\/em> proposes that the Henry who worked for Miss Dalley in 1780 was Henry Stewart. If so, Henry was a colleague of Absolom Jones and Richard Allen and a co-founder and trustee of St. Thomas\u2019 African Episcopal Church of Philadelphia.[2]<\/a> In the later part of the 18th<\/sup> century, Henry Stewart would become a leader of the African Free Society, possibly the first organization of its kind in American history.[3]<\/a> As an emissary of the free African American community in Philadelphia, Henry Stewart traveled to Boston in 1789 to meet with Prince Hall, \u201cthe first Grand Master of Colored Masons in the United States.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 2<\/strong><\/span> begins by introducing Henry Stewart, the focus of the Regarding Free Henry Hypothesis<\/em>. After summarizing available information about Henry\u2019s background, this essay presents the evidence that Henry Stewart was the \u201cfree Negro servant\u201d who worked for Miss Dalley in 1780. Admittedly, this hypothesis is purely circumstantial. Nevertheless, the hypothesis is supported by the detailed reasoning and inferences set forth below. Part 3 (under construction)<\/span><\/strong> will conclude with research questions and a roadmap for future scholarly research. The goal is to collaboratively leave no stone unturned in an effort to learn more about Henry and prove, refine, or disprove the Regarding Free Henry Hypothesis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Who was Henry Stewart?<\/em><\/p>\n

In April of 1787, the month before the Constitutional Convention, the Free African Society (\u201cFAS\u201d) was founded in Philadelphia. The organization was created by Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two former slaves who would become Philadelphia\u2019s first Black ministers.[5]<\/a> Henry Stewart became an early leader of the FAS and a co-founder of St. Thomas\u2019 African Episcopal Church. While there are no known portraits of Henry Stewart, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen are pictured below.<\/p>\n

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When it was founded, the FAS was the first African American benevolent society and fraternal organization in Philadelphia, the nation\u2019s largest city at the time. The FAS was also significant as the forerunner of Philadelphia\u2019s first independent African American churches, including Absalom Jones\u2019 African Episcopal Church.[6]<\/a> In 1862 the early records of the FAS were compiled and transcribed as the Annals of the First African Church<\/em> (\u201cAnnals<\/em>\u201d).[7]<\/a> Stewart\u2019s name appears over a dozen times in the Annals<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As described by W. E. B. Du Bois, the founding of the FAS represented \u201cthe first wavering step of a people toward an organized social life.\u201d For Du Bois, \u201c[h]ow great a step this was\u2026.\u201d[8]<\/a> As described by historian Gary Nash, the FAS was an organization in which \u201cpeople emerging from bondage could gather strength, develop their own leaders, define themselves as a group, and independently explore strategies for hammering out an existence\u201d of their own.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Pictured below is an image from the FAS ledger book evidencing that Henry Stewart was recorded as paying dues beginning in October of 1788.<\/p>\n

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In 1789, Stewart was selected by the FAS to visit and consult with similar societies in New England. While traveling to Boston, Stewart met with leaders of the Union Society of Newport, Rhode Island.[10]<\/a> In Boston, Stewart met with Grand Mason Prince Hall. Letters from Newport and Boston mentioning Stewart\u2019s trip are transcribed in the Annals<\/em>. Stewart is described as a \u201ctruly worthy member\u201d by the Newport Union Society, which prepared a \u201cCertificate to H. Stewart.\u201d The certificate ostensibly served as a letter of introduction to Prince Hall.[11]<\/a> The certificate may also have been intended as a means of officially vouching for Stewart during his travels.<\/p>\n

A letter from Prince Hall, delivered by Stewart, pointed to the sensitive nature of their discussions. Hall informed the FAS that \u201cyour brother Stewart will inform you by word of mouth of some proposals we made to him, which I do not care to write at this time.\u201d[12]<\/a> Based on the written correspondence from the Newport Society, topics that were discussed included the Rhode Island proposals for emigration back to Africa. Yet, it appears clear that return to Africa plans were not embraced by either the FAS or Stewart. As evidenced by a reply from the FAS to their Newport colleagues, \u201c[w]ith regard to the emigration to Africa you mention, we have at present but little to communicate\u201d on that topic. The FAS politely observed that, \u201cevery pious man is a good citizen of the whole world,\u201d which was an indication that the leadership of the free African American community in Philadelphia was more hopeful about their prospects[13]<\/a> than their Rhode Island counterparts.<\/p>\n

In March of 1790 the FAS submitted a petition to the Mayor and City Council of Philadelphia to lease the \u201cburial-ground called Potters\u2019 Field.\u201d Henry Stewart was one of eight signatories to the FAS petition.[14]<\/a> Prominent Philadelphians, including Dr. Benjamin Rush and Tench Coxe, signed the back of the petition, recommending the project. The endorsement evidenced that elite members of Philadelphia society were \u201cacquainted with several members of\u201d the FAC, approved their institution, and could therefore \u201crecommend the members thereof, as well as their humane design,\u201d as being \u201cworthy of confidence and encouragement.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

The following year, Henry Stewart\u2019s name appears in the Philadelphia newspapers, along with Absalom Jones and a total of eight representatives of the African Church of Philadelphia. Citing \u201ca deep sense of the goodness of God, who has blessed many of us with liberty,\u201d the church publicized its detailed \u201cArticles of Faith and Practice.\u201d Reverand Jones and the representatives of the church were likely attempting to formalize and advertise their deep commitment to established church doctrine.[16]<\/a> Six months later, in February of 1792, Henry Stewart was one of six representatives listed on the deed to purchase land for the church.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Henry Stewart\u2019s name also regularly appeared in the Philadelphia newspapers in a fundraising appeal pictured below, which began in the fall of 1791. Absalom Jones, Henry Stewart and seven other representatives of the church were listed in the \u201csubscription,\u201d addressed to \u201cthe Friends of Liberty and Religion in the City of Philadelphia.\u201d[18]<\/a> Having raised funds, Absalom Jones and his flock were prepared to react in 1792 to the \u201cSt. George\u2019s incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For many years, Absalom Jones and his congregants operated out of St. George\u2019s Methodist Church, a large racially integrated church. In the fall of 1792, \u201cone of the most dramatic confrontations in early American church history\u201d led Jones and his congregants to form their own African American church. St. George\u2019s underwent renovations and expansion after outgrowing its seating capacity. The first Sunday after the renovations were completed, Black congregants were informed that they would be required to sit in newly segregated sections. Unaware of the new rule, Absolom Jones and others Black worshipers were already praying in their customary seats. Nonetheless, Jones described that they were picked up and \u201cdragged off our knees in St. George\u2019s Church.\u201d According to Richard Allen, \u201cwe all went out of the church in a body, and they were no more plagued by us in the church.\u201d[19]<\/a> It is unknown whether Henry Stewart was present that day in 1792, but it does not appear that he ever returned to St. George\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In 1794 Henry Stewart was listed as one of seven \u201cfounders and trustees\u201d of the St Thomas African Episcopal Church of Philadelphia, the new church established by Absalom Jones.[20]<\/a> That same year, Stewart was one of the four signatories to a petition to the Bishop and Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Churches of Philadelphia, requesting that Absalom Jones be officially ordained.[21]<\/a> In August of 1795, Jones became the first Black deacon in the Episcopal Church when he was ordained by Bishop William White.[22]<\/a> In 1794, Jones\u2019 church had 246 members.[23]<\/a> In 1795, the year that Absalom Jones was ordained deacon, the church rapidly grew to 427 members.[24]<\/a> \u00a0In 1796 Henry Stewart was elected a vestryman in the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, the first elected church officers of any African American congregation.[25]<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry was apparently not only active with Absalom Jones\u2019 church and the FAS, he was also involved with the first Masonic lodge created in Philadelphia. In 1797, Henry Stewart became one of the early members of Africa Lodge No. 459 of the Free and Accepted Masons of Philadelphia.[26]<\/a> The lodge was established under the charter from Grand Master Prince Hall\u2019s African Lodge in Boston. Hall was the first African American Grand Master of Masons in the United States.[27]<\/a> In November of 1798, African Lodge No. 459 passed a resolution proposing to change its name to the James Moses Lodge No. 1. Henry Stewart was one of the Masons at the meeting who presumably supported the resolution.[28]<\/a> When the Lodge was officially established in 1797, Prince Hall might have recalled that he personally met Henry Stewart during his trip to Boston in 1789.<\/p>\n

The last appearance of Henry Stewart\u2019s name in print involves the publication of an early anti-slavery novel, The Negro Equaled by Few Europeans<\/em>.[29]<\/a> In the 18th<\/sup> century, the business of book publishing was often based on the solicitation of advance orders. After enough subscribers had agreed to purchase the proposed book, it would eventually be printed. As a result of this process, it was common for the publisher to include a list of the names of the subscribers in the book.<\/p>\n

As the new century approached, the Philadelphia African American and abolitionist community seized on an opportunity to support their cause through literature. While southern representatives were obstructing anti-slavery petitions in Congress, Philadelphia printer William W. Woodward proposed a two-volume translation from French of the Marquis de Bois-Robert\u2019s novel. To further reinforce the point, the novel was accompanied by the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, a former slave. As described by historian Julie Winch, \u201c[h]ere was the perfect answer to those congressmen who considered black people to be simple-minded because of their lack of formal education.\u201d Winch conservatively estimates that at least twenty-two of the subscribers were Black.[30]<\/a> Pictured below is the subscriber list for Woodard\u2019s book. Both Henry Stewart and his wife, Elizabeth Stewart, are listed as subscribers.<\/p>\n

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Henry Stewart\u2019s family background<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, StautesandStories.com has not been able yet to verify Henry Stewart\u2019s family background and origin. Work is ongoing. With that said, church baptism records establish that he was married to Elizabeth Stewart. The couple had at least two children. Pierce Gray Stewart was born on 11 January 1796. Pierce was baptized by Absalom Jones in April of 1786. Henry Stewart, Jr., was born on 19 November 1797 and baptized on 17 March 1799. It is reasonable to infer the Pierce Gray Stewart\u2019s middle name was selected out of affection for another church trustee, William Gray, whose name commonly appeared alongside Henry Stewart\u2019s name in church publications. It is unclear who \u201cPierce\u201d was, but this might provide a clue as to Henry\u2019s background. Perhaps Pierce might be Henry\u2019s father or other intimate family friend?<\/p>\n

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Evidence supporting the \u201cRegarding Free Henry Hypothesis\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Set forth below is the admittedly circumstantial evidence that supports the Regarding Free Henry Hypothesis<\/em>. Statuesandstories.com welcomes efforts by scholars and researchers to expand upon this body of work and reasoning.<\/p>\n