Facts about amos fortune biography

For other uses, see Amos Fortune (disambiguation).

Amos Fortune (c. 1710 – November 1801) was an African-American citizen of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in the 18th century.

Fortune was born in Africa and brought to America as an enslaved person. He was given the name "Amos Fortune" by his masters.^[1] He purchased his freedom at the age of 60 and moved to Jaffrey to start a leather tannery business.

Facts about amos fortune biography for kids

Documents now archived at the Jaffrey Public Library testify to his literacy, community position, and financial success.

Purchase of freedom

The first record of Amos Fortune is an unsigned "freedom paper" dated December 30, 1763.

In it, Fortune's owner, Ichabod Richardson, a "tanner of Woburn, in the province of Massachusetts-bay in New England," outlines an agreement with Fortune that at the end of four years, Amos would be "Discharged, Freed, and Set at Liberty from my service power & Command forever...." When Richardson died unexpectedly in 1768,