February is Black History Month

"Black Jane"

“An old lady of dignity of character, highly respected and universally esteemed as an old saint”. These were the words used to describe Jane Smith, Haddam resident and former slave who died at the age of 90 in 1880.

Jane Dublin was born around 1792, possibly in New London. She was the slave of Thomas Judd of East Hampton, Connecticut and married George Smith, Venture Smith’s grandson in 1816 in East Haddam.

Connecticut’s Gradual Abolition Act of 1784 emancipated those who would thereafter be born into slavery and only after they reached 25. It appears that Jane was freed around 1817 when she would have turned 25.

Eventually the couple settled in Haddam and had five children including their youngest, Eliza who is listed as “insane” or “demented” which could have meant a number of disabilities including permanent learning incapacities or a mental illness.

George died in 1842 and Jane who was locally known as “Black Jane” became a “laundress or washerwoman” to make ends meet. She lived in a simple house near the intersection of Hayden Hill Road and Timms Hill Road with her daughter and was well-known and liked by her neighbors. She was known as a “faithful servant, a useful citizen, and a consistent Christian.” In the 1870s Eveline Warner Brainerd interviewed all her neighbors, including Jane, and asked for a quote or sage advice. Brainerd writes that “Black Jane replied - It takes all kinds of people to make a world and one black one”.

Her funeral was attended by many friends and neighbors and she left a house worth $100 and $107 in gold and silver. Eliza went to live with her older sister in Philadelphia but died within a year.