SEARCHING FOR STEPNEY
Remembering and honoring Stepney Enslaved at the Deacon John Grave House in Madison, Connecticut
A collaboration between The Country School and the Witness Stones Project
Aya symbol by Skyler Bartels
About the Witness Stones Project at The Country School
Bearing Witness: Restoring forgotten history in Madison, Connecticut
As New England residents, the stories we hear about slavery in our region tend to focus on abolitionists and the Underground Railroad. For the last three years, Country School 8th Graders have set out to tell a more complete and truthful narrative. Working with Dennis Culliton, co-founder and executive director of the Witness Stones Project, they have researched documents buried in local archives, seeking to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our small Connecticut town. Following the model of the Stolpersteine Project in Germany, which has installed thousands of brass plaques to honor Jews and others who lost their lives during the Holocaust, their work culminates with the installation of a permanent brass marker to commemorate — and to invite the public to remember — these enslaved individuals whose stories and contributions had been effectively erased from the collective memory.
During the first year of the project, members of the class of 2020 focused on a woman named Lettuce Bailey, who was enslaved for much of her life by the minister of the Congregational Church in East Guilford, known today as Madison. While poring through documents extracted from local archives, students managed to identify some of the milestones in her life and then piece together the evidence so they could write biographical narratives. After a workshop with poet and educator Jumoke McDufieThurmond, whose collection, Recipe for Resurrection, was inspired by archival research into his enslaved ancestors, they also opted to write poetry. At the conclusion of the project, a Witness Stones marker was installed on the green in front of the church where Jonathan Todd, the minister who enslaved her, served as pastor. Two hundred years after her death, the marker invites all passersby to honor Lettuce Bailey’s memory, and her biographical narrative and poetry inspired by it are collected in a book called Searching for Lettuce Bailey.
During the 2020-21 school year, a second group of 8th Graders sought to restore the history and honor the humanity of Lettuce Bailey’s mother, Tamar, whose journey began around 1744 in West Africa and ended with her death in Madison in 1816. Using the same methodology, the project for Tamar concluded with the placement of a brass marker in front of the Congregational Church alongside her daughter’s. A biography and student artwork and poetry inspired by their research is collected in Searching for Tamar, Finding Ourselves.
In year three, members of the class of 2022 turned their attention to a man named Theophilus Niger, who was enslaved for much of his life on the outskirts of town and yet managed to build a family and amass property he could pass on to them. Some of his descendants served in the Revolutionary War, some became small business owners, and one became a Black voting rights activist. In the ensuing pages, you will find a biography based on student research as well as poetry, artwork, and a musical composition inspired by their discoveries. You will also find excerpts from some of the speeches delivered at their Witness Stones installation ceremony. Together, these elements tell an inspiring story of persistence, resilience, and agency.
About the Process
Aya Symbol
Fern. A symbol of endurance, independence, defiance against dificulties, hardiness, perseverance, and resourcefulness. The fern is a hardy plant that can grow in dificult places. “An individual who wears this symbol suggests that he has endured many adversities and outlasted much dificulty.”
(Willis, The Adinkra Dictionary)
The Witness Stones Project begins with an exploration of the history of enslavement in Connecticut, showing how great wealth was amassed through engagement with the West Indies trade. Students learn how local farmers and small business people became provisioners to support agricultural slavery on the sugar islands, how some locals actively engaged in the slave trade and how many became enslavers themselves. They also learn about the impact and importance of the thousands of people of African descent who— whether forced or willingly—contributed to the creation of the Connecticut we know today.
After exploring the broader story of enslavement in Connecticut, the focus becomes specific, with students setting out to research one particular individual who was enslaved in their town. They are given access to primary and, when available, to secondary source documents related to the person they are researching. Mostly found in local archives, these documents might include wills, ledgers, bills of sale, birth, death, and marriage records, and probate court inventories as well as recorded family stories or histories that have been passed down through generations. As they explore these documents, students are asked to consider how each one relates to the five themes of enslavement as identified by the Witness Stones Project: dehumanization, paternalism, the economics of slavery, treatment of the enslaved, and agency and resistance.
This year, before examining documents related to Stepney’s life, students also explored the physical landscape he would have known during his lifetime. During a class trip to the Grave House, where Stepney lived in enslavement, students explored the nooks and crannies of Stepney’s life. They saw Stepney’s Stairs, a small passageway that he and others may have used to access their attic living space. Students also were able to inhabit the spaces that were a part of his life, connecting to his world in a physical way.
The following pages are our attempt at enabling the rest of the world to “see” Stepney. As we do so, it’s important to remember that, in fact, he has been here all along. Most of us just didn’t know it.
Drawn by Skyler Bartels
STEPNEY: A SHORT HISTORY
Editor’s Note: After spending weeks collectively researching documents, students worked individually to piece together a biographical narrative reflecting Stepney’s life story. What follows is a composite of our sketches. A list of resources used in our research can be found at the end of this book. Like all histories, elements of this narrative are likely to change as more details emerge. We welcome new information; please reach out to alumni@thecountryschool.org if you have something to add.
The topic of slavery in the United States typically centers on slavery in the South. Large plantations and higher demands for work were responsible for enslavement on a large scale on Southern plantations. However, the history of slavery in the New World goes back to the British colonies, including New England, which used significant amounts of slave labor to develop their economies. Africans were stolen from their homelands and brought to New England to be sold as slaves.
One of these individuals was Stepney. The Grave family, who lived in East Guilford, were the ones who enslaved Stepney. Slavery robbed so many people of their dignity and dehumanized them, and through this project, we can try to remember and honor Stepney’s life.
The Name “Stepney”
The name Stepney was carried to England in a great wave of immigration from Normandy, following the Norman conquest of 1066. In slave-owning households, enslaved people were given names and surnames. Those who had African names were often given 'English' monikers, like Stepney, separating themselves from their own ancestry. There is not much information about Stepney; where he’s from, what he was like, or where he went after his name disappeared from Grave’s account book. But using the information we have, we can stitch together clues about his life to understand how he lived.
The Grave Family
In the 1700s and 1800s, enslaved people mainly worked on small farms, some larger plantations, mines, and shipyards. Colonists in New England also heavily invested in the slave trade, buying shares in slave ships and boosting their economy with profits from human traficking. Labor in Connecticut in the 18th century applied to everyone in the family. The more sons and enslaved people a household had, the more financially successful they would be. With enslaved people, more work would get done in less time, which meant more time for the sons’ education.
In what is now known as Madison, CT lays a section of the enormous, winding road by the name of Route 1, also known as Boston Post Road. Covering the entirety of America’s East Coast and ranging from Key West in Florida to the Canadian border in Maine, Boston Post Road runs through Connecticut. Yet the length of this road is insignificant when examining the weight of the historical events that have occurred in and by Route 1, even before the road gained the oficial name. This enormous history finds its roots in the
Deacon John Grave house, built in 1681 by John Grave. Already a wealthy family, the Grave family would continue to increase their assets through manual labor and farming. During the time of Stepney’s enslavement and labor for the Grave family, they were middle-class farmers, living in a small town in East Guilford (now Madison). The Deacon John Grave House is one of the oldest houses in Madison. It has held 7 generations. The Grave family consisted of John Grave I, his son John II, his grandson John III, and his great grandson Elias. Stepney lived under the generation of John Grave III, who was described as “honorable”, “merry”, and “energetic”. Like his grandfather, he was a deacon at the church, knew how to trade, how to use a loom, and worked in the fields.
John Grave used his house as a tavern. They also used portions of the house as a courtroom and as a judgment room. It also served as a hospital for wounded soldiers of the French and Indian War and was a place for holding weapons during the war. Slaves and servants and borders were among the hundreds that lived and worked here. Stepney was among those people.
The Account Book
Many of the Grave used a leather-covered book from which John Grave I and his successors kept their accounts. At first, the book was used solely for the purpose of keeping commercial tabs. The account book provides fascinating details about family transactions, debts, household inventories, and other important records of their lives and occupations. The first item recorded in the account book was dated March 6, 1678, and the first mention of Stepney is in October 1732, working alongside John Grave II’s first son, John. This account book was kept until 1797 by the first four generations of the Grave family. Having no past records of when Stepney was born or first sold, this is the earliest record that we have of Stepney. Throughout his enslavement, there are many entries in the Grave family account book that are records of work that Stepney did.
In 1732 the first reference to Stepney was made, indicating that at the time Stepney was already participating in manual labor, working alongside the Grave family with some of the children.
With the help of these records, we can determine the kinds of work that Stepney would be doing on a day to day basis for the Graves family. In his early years, he started off driving a plow, spreading flax seeds, and digging stones. Eventually, as he grew, the jobs got harder and more laborious. At 19, he assisted a mason, and in one of the last entries of Stepney in 1760, “Stepney one day tending mason” at 38. The entry “Stepney two days mooring” means that Stepney must have spent a lot of time working at docks and/or shipyards. The entries “Stepney one day tending to the manor,” “Stepney hoeing fields,” “Stepney one day clearing land,” and “Stepney one day plowing” all have to do with farmwork, meaning that tending to the farm was another one of Stepney’s main jobs.
Recurring entries such as “Stepney one day making stone fence” and “Stepney one day working on highways” indicate how Stepney also worked as a builder. Knowing what kinds of jobs Stepney would have to perform on a day-to-day basis gives us a better idea of the kinds of skills he had and how they were put to work. The kind of work that Stepney would
have to do also shows us how much strain Stepney may have had to endure. Building stone walls and constructing would involve lifting and breaking large pieces of stone, which could put lots of physical strain on Stepney. Hoeing and clearing fields for frequent extended periods of time would also force Stepney to experience physical strain on his body. Not only would doing large amounts of backbreaking work cause physical strain, but it would also inflict mental strain upon Stepney.
The last mention of Stepney is in 1762, where he is mentioned “fencing at High Hill” in the Grave family account book.
Stepney’s Age
The work that Stepney did also helps us get a rough idea of how old he was. Ezra, one of the children of John Grave II, is paired with Stepney repeatedly in the Grave family account book, beginning in 1732. Born in 1722, Ezra would be about ten years old in 1732, and because of the constant pairing between ten year old Ezra and Stepney, we assume the two to be the same age. This would mean that Stepney was born around 1722-1723, but no concrete evidence has been found stating his exact date of birth.
As time went on, we see Stepney being assigned heavier and more dificult work, displaying how he was getting older and stronger. Stepney also did similar work to the sons, John and Ezra, meaning that he is probably of similar age to them.
Stepney’s Personal Life and Family
At night, Stepney and other enslaved people at the house spent their time and slept in the most freezing and darkest place in the house: the attic. Because there were so many people living in the house in addition to the household, Cate, Stepney, Billie, Tommy, Prince, and other enslaved people, slaves would commonly have to sleep in the attic. In 1726, a “Negro woman’s bedding” and a “Negro man’s bedding” were two possessions entered into the Grave family account book, and these two possessions have proved to be useful resources in determining the relationship between the other enslaved people in the John Grave household. It is possible that these two people were the parents of Stepney. One enslaved woman in the Grave family who might have a significant relationship with Stepney was Cate, a “Negro woman” mentioned in John Grave II’s 1726 will. Cate continues to appear in records over the next thirty years, although there is no record of her being purchased by the Grave family. Our class considered this to be highly unusual due to the otherwise meticulous specificity of the account book. Interestingly, there is no record of Stepney’s purchase either.
This lack of recorded transaction suggests a relationship between Cate and Stepney, perhaps one that might suggest a common ground regarding Stepney and Cate’s parents. Connecticut church records indicate an enslaved woman named “Cate,” who died in 1790 at the age of seventy years old. Because of Cate’s age, it is assumed that she was born in 1720. While there is no evidence that this was the same “Cate” who lived in the Grave House, it is possible that this was the same person. If this is the case, it is more like that Stepney and Cate were brother and sister.
Whatever their familial relationship was, we can assume that Stepney and Cate were close to each other and supported each other throughout their enslavement.
According to the Madison Historical Society, in the Grave house, “Stepney’s stairs” were the stairs that led to the attic. From information passed down by the Grave family, Stepney was a curious person. He would sneak out at night while everyone was sleeping, not for mischief, but for his own expeditions. Author Gloria L. Main also notes that Stepney often was “Helping John at night” at 19 years old. This could be a potential use of the stairs and 1 what Stepney did in his free time.
Stepney after 1762
To our knowledge, the last entry of Stepney in the Grave account is in 1762, “killing a calf” and “one day fencing at High Hill.” The only hard information we have about Stepney after 1762 comes from a book written in 1877, Papers of the New Haven County Historical Society Vol. II. In this book, it is noted that Stepney “was finally drowned while swimming in the bay.” While this does tell us what Stepney’s unfortunate fate was, there are still more questions that come from this. At the time of his death, was he still enslaved by the Graves? Was he living in Madison at the time, or somewhere else in Connecticut? And when did this drowning happen?
We have come up with several theories about where he could have gone after his last entry in the record book, but unfortunately, there is no solid evidence of what really happened to him. He could have been freed, imprisoned, sold, escaped, or he may have continued to live at the Grave House. After all of our research, we hope that Stepney had a little hope and peace in his life other than all of the hard labor he did for the Grave household.
One clue to Stepney’s life after 1762 is Stepney Strong, an East Haddam man who married a mulatto woman Clorinda Mason in 1796. This possibility was a compelling one because of the fact that Mason was mulatto, suggesting that Stepney and she would have been able to be married (interracial marriages were incredibly rare at the time). Stepney Strong appears in the 1790 census and a multitude of other places. We found that sometime 2 earlier in his life, Stepney Strong worked for a person named Robert Hungerford. For 3 Stepney Strong to be Stepney’s son, Stepney would have had to have been sold to Robert Hungerford, but unfortunately, even though Robert Hungerford kept an account book, it can not be easily found online. It is simply too loose a thread to have to go out looking for the document in the real world.
Main, Peoples of a Spacious Land: Families and Cultures in Colonial New England, 149 1
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1790/heads_of_families/ 2 connecticut/1790b-04.pdf
https://archive.org/details/black-roots-southeastern-ct-1650-1900/page/396/mode/2up? 3 view=theater
The possibility that Stepney was sold may be the hardest to verify. This is because of the fact that there is no mention of the Graves family selling any of their enslaved people, so even if they did sell one of their enslaved people, we wouldn’t know because of the fact that it’s undocumented in the sources we have.
While all of these have a possibility to be the one that’s true, we have no evidence verifying any one of them, so it’s still up for debate what happened to Stepney between his last mention in the account book in 1762 and before his death.
Conclusion
Clues of Stepney’s humanity are still visible today in markings on floorboards, stone walls and roads he worked on, or trees that he planted that are still here. Many people in this region have grown up celebrating the original Europens who settled the shores of New England. But we need to know and celebrate the lives of enslaved Africans like Stepney and Cate so we remember and respect those who gave hard labor for the towns we live in. Enslaved individuals were regarded a sub-human and had their identities stolen from them. Piecing together the stories of enslaved individuals helps us all realize that these were all in fact real people who had an identity and who deserved to be recognized as a person. It cannot be denied that Stepney was a hard worker. The work that he did reflects the skills that he had as a person, giving him an identity as a “person”, not a “slave”. We must never forget the life of Stepney and the legacy that he left behind.
Only in 1784, Connecticut passed an act of Gradual Abolition. It stated that those children born into slavery after March 1, 1784, would be freed by the time they turned 25. This law would have impacted Stepney and those related to him. It is important to recognize how many people were enslaved in Connecticut and the United States because. They spent their days and years working, doing labor, and clearing land for their households. We hope that in our case, Stepney found positivity and hope in his life to live for, and eventually had a family of his own to take care of. There are still families that don’t know their roots because enslaved people were not recognized at the time which is still yet to be discovered.
The story of Stepney, regardless of how much written information there is about him, is one that must be told. Connecticut, not traditionally thought of as a “slave state,” was home to 3019 slaves in 1756, according to the oficial census. Thousands of stories are left untold, just like Stepney’s. But the fact that these stories have not been told by many professional historians should not deter the general population. If we would like to keep the memories of these innocent, kidnapped men and women alive, we must do everything in our power to tell these stories of torture, of dehumanization. We must work to keep the memory of the horrible practice of slavery fresh in our minds, so that it never returns. As memories fade away, the level of atrocity of the actions of slave owners fades away as well. Stories like Stepney’s must be told, and must be preserved. It is our only hope of keeping despicable acts like slavery from ever returning in the future.
POETRY, ARTWORK, AND MUSIC INSPIRED BY THEOPHILUS NIGER
Editor’s Note: Like the students who researched Lettuce Bailey, Tamar, and Theophilus Niger, members of the class of 2023 found that while a straightforward nonfiction account could restore Stepney’s history, it might not be fully capable of honoring his humanity. They had seen the possibilities inherent in a more creative treatment of archived material, thanks to Jumoke McDufie-Thurmond, when he shared work from Recipe for Resurrection, showing how through poetry, he was able to “conjure a creative space of reckoning, listening, remembering, and longing” while bearing “witness to the humanity of enslaved ancestors held within the documents of a dehumanizing archive.” After reading some of his poems, students learned techniques for writing in ways that would allow them to stay true to the archived material while also conveying some of the “unsayable” things held in those archives.
This second half of our book features poetry, visual art, photography, and musical compositions inspired by our research.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
The first collection of poetry centers around the questions we still had, even after scouring the archives for weeks. Among them: What allows a person who is enslaved, who is considered the property of someone else, to survive and even thrive? In the late 18th century, even after being emancipated, did formerly enslaved people ever really feel free? What was his legacy? Did he get justice? Was he happy? What did he think about and what did he love?
This second half of our book features poetry, visual art, photography, and a musical composition inspired by our research. Additional work, including artist statements and more creative pieces, can be found on the student Witness Stones website: https:// sites.google.com/view/tcs-witness-stones/2022-project. The poetry has been organized thematically into four sets: Unanswered Questions, Agency, Legacy, and the Vital Power of Stories and Language. The visual art and music follow.
APPENDIX OF STUDENT WORK
ENSLAVED
by Oli Scott
He toils day and night. His hands grip a shovel. A hoe. A spade. The calluses on his hands grow and harden like rocks. He works. And works. And works.
Some days Ezra joins him, others Elias. He is loaned to other farms around town. To work, of course. 10, 12, 14 hours pass by. He works. And works. And works.
He sees John Graves III record his efforts, the hours he puts in. These accounts are insignificant to him, numbers and letters on a piece of paper.
He was born around 1732. But dates mean nothing to him. Labor has overtaken his life. Overtaken his personality. Overtaken any uniqueness he might have had before his enslavement. He works. And works. And works.
Cate, one of the sole caring companions in the dark life that he leads, gives him solace,
An older figure that is able to see the way in the darkness. Farm work gives him purpose, but it is not by choice. Nothing is by choice. He works. And works. And works.
He never truly rests. His sleep is limited to simple bedding, His room a section of the small attic. He works. And works. And works.
Each night he ascends the stairs dubbed after his name, Lays his head on his bed, and Hopes that tomorrow will bring freedom. But it never does. He works. And works. And works.
Knowing that death will ultimately be what ends his suffering.
What does he live for?
By Ksenia Podoltseva
This is not what he lives for. Working from sunrise to sunset, Plowing fields, cutting wood, And clearing land. He lives for freedom, To his life in the future.
He lives for the bird's voice, The one that sings. He can distinguish his bird, It’s the unique voice of the others calling for him, Waiting for him to run away with her.
He lives for quiet nights, Laying in the attic until everyone is asleep, Sneaking out, Exploring new things, Investigating what it really feels like to feel free.
He lives for his family whom he’s never met, His ancestors, his friends, The people who care about his existence.
He lives for freedom, Running in the fields, Holding hands with children, His bird leading the way.
He doesn’t live for his family, endless lists of work, The reality of being a slave.
He’s thought about it, Running away, Would they care if he was gone? Would they search the ends of the earth to find him? He doesn’t live for them because they don’t live for him.
Stepping Stones
By Spencer MacKenzie
He is used dusk till dawn
Plowing, shoveling, gathering, carrying, Only thought of as the tool that can't be broken The thing that can be lent out for pocket change. A tool.
Oftentimes, He is accompanied by sons of the Grave family, Elias, Ezra, all people he has come to know well in his long hours of work. He toils day after day, 5 hours turns to 8, 8 turns to 12, 12 turns to a number on a sheet of paper, a paper used to record tools A tool.
The constant drudgery leads to his mind feeling numb and drained of creativity, making it dificult to enjoy anything else outside of work. As he peers over at his sheet, He sees his date of birth, C. 1732. Tools aren't giving an exact day he's told, A tool.
He has never felt rejoice coursing through his feeble and nimble bones, After all, He's only fed kibble and pork. His hast self can easily navigate down the stairs labeled after Himself, But the inevitable thought of work, and suffrage clouds his mind and his hopes of freedom, although, he's told tools aren't straight in the head. A tool.
Cate, the strongest soul among us. Carries their thoughts on her back, to lighten their load. Yet,
She does so with compassion, and perseverance. They work day after day, watching the stalks in the field stand tall and strong, silhouetted against the fiery orange and pink hues of the sunset that painted the sky behind them. It gives them hope, thinking that tomorrow will be different. A tool.
He can never truly be at peace, his mind is always flared with the ineluctable thought of toiling his life away in the fields.
His mind rambles night after night, limiting his ability to recharge himself in his 6x5 space in the attic. He cannot begin to fathom what life could possibly be like outside of that never ending loop, the one that is thrown around him like the chains. He can't feel anything anymore. He is simply not there. A tool. A tool.
More than just a room
By Lucy Burke
My feet carefully press against the narrow, creaking steps as I ascend the stairs leading up to the second floor of the Grave House. I round the corner and right there: A room. Nothing more than just a room.
My eyes wander to a bed, and down to old blankets piled in the corner. Nothing more, just a room.
I run my fingers along the walls, feel a wood panel tucked away. My fingers pause on the long notches, Pry the doorway open, And look into the darkness. I see a small staircase, Leading up and away.
An escape, hidden behind a wall of this old room, The only namesake of himThe Stepney StairsNamed for the enslaved man, Working at the Grave House.
A space to get away, to escape. A sanctuary from the harsh world. A stairway to adventures and dreams, to a life beyond.
This is more than just a room.
It is a space where a man had to escape to because he was mistreated because he was treated unequally because he was Black and enslaved.
This is more than just a room.
Imagining Freedom
Devri Aronson Artist Statement
For my Witness Stones final project, I have decided to use Stepney’s stairs as a base. It was crazy being able to walk up the same stairs as someone who knew that they were essentially walking into a cage. I found it really powerful, and I knew immediately that I wanted to incorporate the stairs into my art.
As you can see from my drawing, I have a staircase (Stepney’s stairs) with yellow and orange roses which are the flowers that represent freedom. My thinking was at the bottom which shows that you could possibly have hope and think of freedom, but as you get to the top, that hope slowly fades as you near the dark attic and eventually get eaten by the darkness. As you can see the roses mimic this concept. It starts off with beautiful vibrant, vivid colorful oranges, and yellows and then fades to more of brown tones, then gray and when all hope is lost the flowers which were once beautiful and colorful turn jet black signifying that once you are consumed by that dark attic it is very hard to imagine freedom and to stay optimistic about your future. This leads me to my second symbol which is a dove with an olive branch that also symbolizes freedom, hope, and peace. As you can probably see the bird has a ball and chain that is not letting the bird fly away or be free. This reminds me a lot of Stepney and pretty much all enslaved people as they are trying to fly away and be free, but they are chained, essentially property, machines. But the difference between machines and enslaved people is the enslaved people are humans with thoughts and opinions and needs.
Stepney and Cate (we don’t know the relationship these two shared) would climb up these stairs every day from the age of ten in about 1732 to the last record we have in 1790. These stairs were a normal part of his life but to someone now they look scary, and like something we could never picture using or sleeping in that attic seeps unfathomable. This just shows how messed up this was. Enslaved people were practically brainwashed into thinking this was “ normal.”
The people of the time had to grow up and see that they were sucking the life and humanity out of these poor enslaved people, like a piece of paper trying to avoid the swirling suck of a vacuum. It took way too long for people to realize how terrible all this was.
Scars
Maizie Byrne Artist Statement
Throughout the time I learned about Stepney, an enslaved man living in Madison in the 1700s, I was able to get a glimpse of his life. Because Stepney was an enslaved African American, we do not know much about him, but, what we do know is that he was born around 1722, he was enslaved by the Grave family, and there is absolutely no mention in the Grave family records of him after the time of 1762. This made me feel like my heart broke,. The fact there was barely any mention of him. During the time I researched Stepney, I found out about the hard labor he was forced to do by reading the Grave Family’s diary. Some common tasks Stepney did were gather corn, spread flax, and fix fences. Stepney also lived with John and Elizabath, the Grave family's seven children. Sadly, one of the children passed right after birth. In the article Stepney in peoples of a spacious land - Child rearing and childhood, It was noted that Stepney was of the age of ten when he was first recorded. Through my drawing I drew hands with cuts and bruises to symbolize pain, both mental and physical. The scars on Stepney’s hands are a symbol of the pain he carries. I drew the hands to be cuffed up to show that he was not free just because of the color of their skin, and to show
how dehumanized Stepney truly was. I put all of these things in dark colors to symbolize pain, torture, and inequality. Finally, I drew three types of flowers around his hands. I drew freesias which mean freedom. I drew a periwinkle which represents the strength of an enslaved person. Finally, I drew an iris, which means hope. The flowers are drawn in bright colors to symbolize happiness, equality, and liberty. Stepney is reaching out to these flowers and wants so badly to touch and grab them, but the shackled hands stop him from doing so.
Musical Composition
Nic Sanborn Artist Statement
For my Witness Stones project I wrote a song and my friend Charlie recorded the vocal track. It focuses on Stepney as both a man and an enslaved person, and the Connecticut history within the Grave House.
The Mystery of the Inscriptions
Michael DeFlippo Artist Statement
When I was introduced to the Witness Stones project, I was drawn to the mystery of the inscriptions written on an internal door inside of the Deacon John Grave House in Madison, Connecticut. It was a house that
had slaves in the 1700 and 1800s as well as served many other uses. During its lifetime the Deacon John Grave House was many things including a tavern and an inn. During the few wars that it stood through, it was a safe house for soldiers, held weapons at times, and also served as an infirmary. At one point the house was even used as a courthouse when Madison was first settled.
As an artist, I am drawn to many modalities of art from digital to traditional. Originally I wanted to study the door in the Deacon John Grave house and use current technology to try and read the inscription on the door to know exactly what it said. It proved very dificult. I don’t think anyone will ever know what the door really says. And that is okay. So for my art project I instead decided to guess at what the door says, to create my own interpretation through a drawing. One cannot read the words on the door with their naked eye. My drawing is what I believe that the door says. There are vague words that sort of look like the words vinegar, sugar or cigar. I imagine that the door has the words rum, milk or beer and the tally marks serve as the count of the items that were sold when the Deacon John Grave house operated as a tavern. One can assume that the tally marks are for the sale of the numbers of items sold such as kegs of beer or milk or even bags of grain. Sold to their owners,
Him
By Emily Dusza
A tiny town: Madison, Connecticut, A home where an enslaved human once lived. Inside, narrow twisting stairs. Built in 1681, Served as a hospital, The Grave House, Home to the Grave family. Built on the Boston Post Road.
A few minutes away from the Madison Green, He residedA man, Dark skin, Not seen as human.
He was a slave for the Grave family. Working, always working. From mending fences to building stone walls. Working, always working.
He would leave at night. Climb out of the house, In search of adventure. He wanted a life, Instead he was locked away like a caged bird And forced to work.
Madison Evarts Archives, The only place his life can be unfolded, Held records: Marriage, death, birth. He was never mentioned in the lengthy Stories of the Grave family. He was not seen as human.
This him has a name. Stepney.
Stepney’s Entire World
Andrew Hally Artist Statement
In my drawing of the Grave House, I was trying to show that the house and Madison were Stepney’s entire “world.” Stepney was one of two enslaved people that helped out the Graves and was pivotal to the Grave family history.
We learn about Stepney from John Grave II’s accounting book. The entries tell us when he was born and about his work for the Grave family. Every day Stepney would leave the house attic in the morning to work. Some of the work he did was carpentry, sawmill, stone work, field work, and work on highways. Each evening he would return back to the house and go to sleep in the dark attic with one small window. Through this window he could see a small part of his “world.” While the Grave’s sons, who he worked with, eventually would move to marry and start their own families, Stepney remained at home as enslaved and in captivity.
Stepney appeared in the account book 221 times, which tells us that his life had a big impact on the Graves. The account book was a big part of the mystery about Stepney, from telling us when he was enslaved by the Grave family and when he hopefully left to pursue his dreams and freedom.
Markings from Stepney and Kate, another enslaved person, are all over the house, and they show us a little of what slavery was like.
The Light in the Window
Austin Holway Artist Statement
I decided to make my creative piece for the Witness Stones a drawing. My drawing represents the Deacon John Grave House in Madison. I think my inspiration mostly came from my visit to the habitable, but hated house. The visit gave me a sense of how it would have felt for Stepney to live there. I imagined Stepney was put through an eternity of labor and hard work. I tried to implement all the knowledge I picked up into my art piece, such as the shovel in the front yard and the light in the window. The wheelbarrow represents all the work Stepney did while on the property. The light in the window suggests which room Stepney may have lived in.
“Everything We Have, and Nothing More”
Alex Monin Artist Statement
In this artwork, I show how little has survived of the enslaved Stepney and what we know about him. We know where he lived, who he lived with, when he lived, and what he did as work, but not much more. What we do know of his life is documented in the account book of the Grave family who enslaved him. I took some excerpts from the account book as the basis of my art. One such excerpt which I used was, “October 1732 Ebenezer Grave debt Stepney driving plow 3 days”. We figured that since this excerpt is the first instance of Stepney in the account book, he may have been born sometime in the 1720s. These excerpts are like the skeletal remains of a once beautiful animal. They give us only the most basic information about Stepney, but they can give us insights on just how brutal Stepney’s work was. To the Grave family, Stepney was a workhorse. Stepney only leaves the records of the account book in the year 1762. We don’t know anything about what happened to Stepney past that last record in the account book. Do not misinterpret what I’ve said as his life being nothing but a mystery. What we know is still so much more than what we could have. What we have of his life is like a ripped up book. While there is much we’re missing, there is still so much we have. It wasn’t my goal to tell you that we don’t know anything about him, it was my goal to show everything we have, and nothing more.
Portrait
Cole Nelson Artist Statement
For my project, I wanted to paint a portrait of Stepney. Of course, that is impossible, since we have no idea what he looked like. So I painted him at an angle where his face wasn’t showing, with a technique that made
the image vague and patchy, which both makes it so that I don’t have to pretend to know what Stepney looks like. (I also gave him short hair, because I know that at the time he was alive in the 1720s to early 1800s, enslaved people were often forced to cut their hair very short.) The slightly patchy style also works well with the theme I’m trying to touch on with this piece, which are lack of identity and documentation of enslaved people, as well as how we had to piece aspects of Stepney, a real person who lived and had thoughts, hopes, and a life, just based off of documentations of the work he did. To add to this theme, I also added printed out pages of the account books of the Graves, which are the only documents from the time that mentioned Stepney. While the records help uncover more and more about him now, they are really what hid aspects of his life and him as a person in the first place. However, I did not put them over the painting of Stepney, in order to show how while we don’t have a clear image of what he was like outside of these documents, he is more than just the work he did.
Stepney: A Man Enslaved
Henry Ogeneski Artist Statement
My thought in creating this children’s book was to create something that would live on past our research of Stepney. Most other art pieces regarding Stepney in this project will probably only be seen by a select number of people once, maybe two times before being forgotten. However, my piece will be able to continue to teach others, no matter what age, about the true nature of slavery beyond the duration of our studies.
One of the things that struck me in our research of Stepney was the notion that before this unit, I hadn’t a clue about anything what-so-ever concerning the true ways of slavery. In addition to this, I was never aware of the fact that enslaved people lived everywhere: in my house, in my neighbor’s house, everywhere. Instead of just residing in the deep south like I had previously thought, the enslaved population was just as, if not more evident in the North. If I, a student currently learning in school, wasn’t taught this until the 8th grade, how many other people
weren’t even taught this at all? It was for this reason that I took it upon myself to be the one to inform others about those terrible times of slavery, no matter what age those “others'' might be. Now-a-days, people like to see only part of the picture, to only remember parts of history, but that’s like watching a sequel before the original: your story is incomplete. I understand we can’t teach everyone everything, but the more we can teach our fellow Americans about slavery, about our past, about where they come from, the better we will be as a nation.
Witnessing the Work Ryan Pfau Artist Statement
In my art, I am symbolizing the suffering and pain Stepney went through. The small attic window was the only view of the outside world Stepney had when forced to live there like a caged animal, only to be used when needed. The ax shown in the foreground finally put to rest after many hours of back-breaking work. This took place in that house located right here in Madison, not some far off plantation. Clearly shown are the two stories and two-thousand seven-hundred square feet that
the comfortable Grave family had to themselves just below the cold, dark attic where Stepney lived. We have witnessed the pain Stepney inevitably must have gone through in that very attic when we saw it in real time. This is not just some forgotten history, this is a real life forgotten. My artwork represents the harsh divide between the two races and the conditions Stepney had to live under.
What Stepney Endured: A Video Essay
Will Reilly Artist Statement
My video essay describes the awful things that Stepney had to endure. It also talked about how he was almost completely erased from history. Additionally, I talk about all the enslaved people who were completely erased and the amount of pain they had to go through just to be forgotten. The entire point of my project was to tell the story of Stepney by making a brief but powerful video showing some of the key points of his life that we know, specifically the Grave House in his life and talking about what he went through. I also wanted to take the opportunity to mention the things other enslaved people had to go through while being enslaved in New England.
Stepney’s Timeline, musical composition
Whitman Liu Artist Statement
My music composition is meant to show the different parts in Stepney’s life. I cut it into four different parts. Starting with Stepney being born, then him working, him using the Stepney Stairs to sneak out, and finally the mystery of what happened to Stepney. The first part (Stepney’s birth) I made into a calm violin feeling like it’s about to tell a story. It also has a sense of hope in it. Very quickly it becomes him working in the fields and around the house and town. I made that a bit more fast but still not very energetic or crazy, more of a slow, paced life.
Then we take a big turn when the Stepney stairs get involved. I made it the fastest out of all of these and liked to think about the adventures he might have had if he snuck out. Then finally comes the disappearance/ mystery of Stepney, so I made it slow but not calm and fast but not energetic, kind of in between. It was not really made to make you feel much, just like we don’t know much about Stepney after this.
Exploring
Braden Rinehart Artist Statement
Human beings are naturally curious. We all want to explore, discover new things, learn new things about ourselves and the world around us. This right shouldn’t be taken away from someone just because of their differences. In my artwork, I depict Stepney, an enslaved man taken from his home and put to work at the Deacon John Grave house in Madison, Connecticut. He is shackled to the roof of the house with a rolled piece of paper in his hand used as a telescope. His right to explore was taken away once he was taken from his home. He is shown shackled to the roof to show how eager he was to explore, but he couldn’t because of the color of his skin.
There is a story that was passed down about Stepney, the story of the Stepney stairs. This story of Stepney using his secret stairs to leave the house and explore the night is what mostly influenced my painting. According to the story which we heard passed down from generations, during the night he would sneak out of the house using a small flight of stairs that were hidden by the chimney. He was said to have been very curious, and this would be the time he was able to explore without anyone knowing. Slaves were tortured and beaten into something they weren't, and most of all afraid to do what humans do best: be curious, be creative, and learn.
Unattached
Elizabeth Rogers Artist Statement
Family trees depict our ancestry and heritage. The leaves and branches are our connection to the past. They give context to our special place in family history as do comments like, “You have your grandmother’s eyes” or “Did you know your great great grandfather died in the Civil War?” The small buds symbolize the promise and hope of future children. An enslaved person didn’t have a tree and often not even a branch. Although an enslaved person might be associated with a family by ownership, he or she was not connected to the family tree. In my work, I have depicted the Grave family tree, full of green leafy history. In the branches the names of Grave family members that lived here in Madison during the early 18th century can be seen. From the 1720s to approximately 1762, the Grave family owned an enslaved person. A small breeze sends the unattached leaf, Stepney, spinning without an anchor to the past or hopes for the future.
A man lost in time
By Cade Rinehart
Words on a page
Lost in a book,
Packed away waiting to have the dust blown off.
Stepney, a name etched in time, A slave at the Deacon John Grave House, Living a life not his own, His story long forgotten, His dreams and hopes are unknown. In the words of Jefferson himself, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, That all men are created equal, That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
But those words were not for Stepney, Chained and bound, a life in captivity, His soul yearned for freedom, A life of his own, a life of dignity. We claim America is great, But can’t even follow our own rules, For the color of skin still dictates,
Stepney, a symbol of the past, His legacy an untold tale, But in his name, we strive for change, So that his suffering doesn’t go untold May his spirit find peace, In a world that now understands, That every human life is precious, We all deserve to be free in this land.
No matter the color of our skin, we shall all wear the same sweat on our backs, And dirt in our fingernails, As Americans we must remain united as one.
You
By Eliza Pfeil
You stand there
Unafraid
Watching everything that is going on around you
You see everything
From women who have worked with cotton
To the enslaved people that picked it
They live in your structure
Weaving in and out
Making everything with their looms
From blankets to bedsheets
Clothing to towels
You see a man
Late at night
Climbing the creaky stairs
All the way to the attic
He climbs out the window
And walks out into the woods.
You can’t see him until the sun starts rising
So you sit there
Wondering
Centuries pass
You gain experiences
Always remembering
Always observing
You last lifetimes
See everyone come and go
Everything always changing
Now there's no more families
No more stories to watch
Just historians
And children researching you
Studying you
Finding out everything about you
A Dream Unfulfilled
By Jake Sigal
The sky turns a light orange hue
The birds chirping in his ear
When he hears the birds his day begins
His sleep-deprived eyes slowly open
He jumps out of bed and quickly starts his yard work
Today he has two jobs
Picking corn and mending the fence
He looks carefully and admires the checker pattern on the corn as he places it in the basket
Later in the morning, Elias comes to help him with the work
Elias is not enslaved but he still helps him with regular work from time to time
Together they quickly finish by midday
Through many years, he and Elias grew a special bond while working together
Though as the day goes on Elias gets tired and stops working
Leaving him to finish all the work himself
Before his last job he is given water
To him the water is his savior
Through all his work he looks forward to his refreshing reward after hours of work and sweat
This was life for him
Working for nothing in return
He was a human
No different from anyone else
But was mistreated because of the color of his skin
A never ending nightmare
A dream unfulfilled
One day he was gone
Lost in the record books
Lost in history
Many aspects and views from his life were gone
No one knows where he went
Working was all he knew Work work work
That was life for Stepney
But we can't forget his life and his dreams
The legacy he left behind, though largely erased there is still a faintly legible mark
Stepney deserves to be remembered, in every way.
If Only He could fly
By Rosie Lee
He always knew that he was never free, Working away every single day, Never having the taste of freedom, Only the mouthful taste of others controlling him. As if they were the puppeteer and he was the puppet, To this game called life.
Some days he worked the farm, Some days he plowed the field, And some days he would just cut wood. But he knew that he was he, and not someone else.
Every time he ventured outside, he would see birds soaring through the sky, He always wondered if he could ever be free, just like them, Soaring through the clouds, just like everyone else. But deep down, he knew, that his wings were chained to the ground, And he knew, he would never take flight. But still wished that he could fly.
Every time he saw some kids playing in the street, With no one watching them, Free of their own free will, Playing happily with one another, He knew that that’s what freedom looked like, And he wished that he could fly.
It wasn’t as if he glued down the ground, Twilight had his cover, Sneaking away, And coming back, On his Stephany stairs. He wished that he could fly.
He knew that this wasn’t it, He knew, he could disappear, from records, account books, and dairies, And he knew, That one day, He could fly.
Stepney
By Luca Coletti
Stuck in the pain of toil and strife, With not a prayer in sight, Working all day and dreading the night,
I am a boy enslaved by the Graves Indentured to work with a hoe, and a spade Ezra a boy who comes to my aid
Lifting my chains and saving the day However my pain does not fade Left to rot alone and depraved
My only tie to the current day is a small leather book recording the trades From house to house the white man raves Sending me on errands to earn his wage with freedom but a stones throw away
I plot my escape from this place of hate
I climb down my stairs under the cover of night Escape in my mind preparing for flight I take to the night with a crack and a jolt
Away to Hadem my feet do bolt
Away from the pain and the hate that I felt
To start a new life in a world un-felt
You Have Stood
By Sadie Ferguson-Cormier
I have stood here for a long, long time. I have stood As men fight over freedom, Over land, Over other men.
I have stood
As women weave and cook and wash clothes so caked with soot They look like pieces of burnt firewood.
I have stood Until my beams are bowlegged My backbone so charred it can no longer spew Smoke up, up into the sky.
I have stood here so long I have a plaque Pinned to my chest, and children Who come to yell And rub their grubby fingers over Crosses etched in my skin.
I have stood here so long, my memory is ebbing So much that when men and women point At writing scrawled on my doors, asking “What is this?”
I have no answer.
They peel open my walls and point At stairs marching up my throat And onto the saltbox floor of the heavens.
I remember standing here
Watching a man wait until the sky Was the color of his skin
To climb up, footsteps quiet; To walk across the shingles and jump down, Taking a breath of cold night air, And walking, free only under the stars.
I watched him disappear into burgundy and black But could only stand, as still and quiet as I have now stood For centuries upon centuries.
He returned later, when the night was too bright To be called night any longer. He stood on my threshold, and he looked at me For just a moment, eyes drinking in window panes and shutters. Then he turned toward the road, and we watched A sliver of daylight leak above the horizon,
And I didn’t want him to stay. Wanted for him to pick up his few possessions
To walk down the road bathed in free, beautiful sun
To walk wherever he pleased, and never have to Bend down and plow wheat from my fields.
But he must have seen something in the window And turned, with silent hurry
Through the door, and the slam of the handle in the doorframe
Seemed as though to shake my whole foundation.
A girl stares at the stairs, her head tilted, A flashlight in hand, even though the sun is shining Bright, almost blinding through my window panes. “Where did he go?” She asks, and I can do nothing But stand, as I have always stood, and try to remember.
Through the Cloud of Fog
By Keenan Bonito
Around 1723, where cruel, torturous acts, slavery was at its peak, through the cloud of fog was Stepney.
Born into slavery, the Graves family forced him to work in the fields all day, dreaming to be free. Late nights going down the “Stepney Stairs”, and exploring the deep woods near the Grave family home, just to come back to the same place he works everyday. Stepney worked hard every day in the fields just to be put in a will as an object. Stepney survived through the American and Indian war which his helping hand and master was fighting in, Stepney was alone plowing the fields with the rest of the Grave family sitting back to watch him work.
Augmented Reality Project
ByAlexander Schultz
In the Grave House, there lies a small flight of wooden stairs beside on great chimney on the second floor of the house. These stairs are known as Stepney’s Stairs. Stepney would use these stairs to leave the house at night and sneak out for his own enjoyment and pleasures. With the use of the Augmented Reality model, users are able to immerse themselves in a critical piece of Stepney’s history that sheds light on the harsh realities of slavery in America. These stairs help us imagine the struggles and dificulties Stepney faced during his life and gain a deeper understanding of how little freedom and agency Stepney had over himself. I created this augmented reality model of Stepney’s Stairs to restore them back to what they looked like before they witnessed the effects of time. Augmented reality helps bring these things to life and transport us back in time to acquaint ourselves with an important piece of history regarding Stepney.
“Forgotten”
, an instrumental piece
By Liam Kane
My creative project is an instrumental piece that I composed. I chose to name it “FORGOTTEN” to represent the fact that Stepney was forgotten/ neglected and that we don't know a whole lot about him. The song is about 4 minutes long and incorporates many different instruments, styles, and emotions. There are multiple parts in the song where the mood shifts to represent specific elements of Stepney’s life, such as repetition or longing. As you listen, try to see if you can figure out which parts those are. I also did not want to make it overwhelmingly sad, so I tried to find a middle ground. Here is “Forgotten.” I hope you enjoy.
RESOURCES USED IN OUR RESEARCH
The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Vol. 10, Page 617
The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, Vol. 14, Page 485
Trumbull Papers, Vol. 24, Document 178
Connecticut, New Haven County. 1790 U.S. Census
Graves, Kenneth Vance. Deacon George Graves: 1636 Settler of Hartford, Connecticut and his Descendants (Wrentham, MA, 1995).
Brown, Bill. Making Ends Meet: Financing Every-Day Life for a Madison Family, 1685-1865. (Madison, CT, 2005)
Bushnell, Jane F. “Madison, Boston Street, an Old Neighborhood.” In The Connecticut Quarterly Vol. III. 1897
Main, Gloria L. Peoples of a Spacious Land: Families and Cultures in Colonial New England. (Cambridge, MA, 2004)
“Old Graves House. Built in Guilford in Seventeenth Century.” Hartford Courant. April 14, 1903
Connecticut, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 (John Grave II, Hartford). Ancestry.Com. January 2023
Connecticut, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 (Elias Grave, Hartford). Ancestry.Com. January 2023
Connecticut, U.S. Church Records, 1630-1920 (Elias Grave, Hartford). Ancestry.Com. January 2023
Connecticut, U.S. Church Records. Ancestry.Com. January 2023
Grave, John II, “Account Book.” 1710
Grave, John III, “Account Book.” October 1732-1762
Connecticut. Madison, Town of. Church Records. Pp. 294-295
Connecticut. Guilford, Town of. Vital Records. Pp. 325-326
U.S. Census of East Guilford, 1790. “Stepney.” United States Federal Census. January 2023
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
• Adding to the Witness Stones Project and to the historical record has been a privilege for all of us. We many to thank for their support of, and contributions to, this project, among them (in no particular order)
• Dennis Culliton for developing the Witness Stones Project and for once again leading us in this effort to restore the history and honor the humanity of Stepney, a remarkable member of our community
• Members of the TCS Class of 2023 for their commitment to unearthing and sharing Stepney’s story, while honoring him as a person
• Terry Roberts, President of the Deacon John Grave Grave Foundation, for collaboration on students’ research and hosting our students on our visits to the Grave House.
• Teachers Kristin Liu (English), Will McDonough (History/English), Peter Burdge (History) and Liz Lightfoot (facilitator) for guiding us through this effort and taking the time to allow students to fully engage
• Jumoke McDufie-Thurmond, poet, artist, and educator, for inspiring all of us and helping us “see” Stepney
• John Fixx, Head of School, for the ongoing embrace of this project, and installing Stepney’s Witness Stones marker at the Grave House
• Keith Smith, director of Diversity, Equity, Including, and Belonging at The Country School, for supporting this undertaking and so eloquently expressing why the Witness Stones Project is important
• Nicole Thomas, historian, researcher and administrator at the Hempstead Houses for her beautiful speech at our installation ceremony, emphasizing for students why this project matters.
• Jen Hornyak, TCS Lower School Head and Deacon John Grave House Board member, for connecting our 8th graders’ TCS experience to the place where Stepney lived.
• Joe Lamacchia, TCS Director of Technology, for coordinating technology at the installation ceremony
• Skylar Bartels, TCS Owls Nest Coordinator and teacher, for drawing the amazing cover art for this book.
• Suzanne Sliker, remarkable designer and volunteer, for once again creating this beautiful book. We are beyond grateful for your countless contributions.
Through education, research, and civic engagement, the Witness Stones Project seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities. Learn more at witnessstonesproject.org.
