This database would not be possible without the time, efforts, and monetary contributions of
many individuals. Wethersfield Historical Society would like to thank these many individuals for
making this work possible.

First and foremost, we wish to thank volunteer research librarian Martha Smart and independent
researcher Diane Cameron. We thank them so much for the countless hours they spent
researching the lives of people of color in Wethersfield. Without their dedication, patience,
diligence, ingenuity, and generosity, this project would not be possible.

We thank the staff of Wethersfield Historical Society and website designer Brian Bellino for the
time they put into synthesizing the research of Martha and Diane, finding the funds necessary to
pay for this project, and creating the database.

We thank the many archives that have carefully safeguarded the primary sources shared in this
database through the years and the staff of these archives who shared these documents with us,
especially Wethersfield Historical Society, the Connecticut State Library, the Connecticut
Museum of Culture and History, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, Mystic Seaport,
Wethersfield Town Clerk’s Office, New York State Archives, and the National Archives.

While the vast majority of the research for this project was conducted by Martha Smart and
Diane Cameron, we wish to thank the other researchers and archivists who contributed
information to this project. We thank Terry Jackson, descendant of Benoni Lattemore, for his
dedication to unearthing his family’s history and his generosity in sharing his family’s story with
us. We thank Hope McGrath, Assistant Editor of the Yale & Slavery Research Project, for the
information that she contributed about Elisha Williams’s enslaved people. We thank AnnMarie
Hess, New York State Archives archivist, for the information that she contributed regarding
Sarah Delion/Dillings. We thank Tabitha Smith for the information that she contributed
regarding Edward Gomer. We thank Emma Winter Zeig, former Education & Interpretive
Programs Manager at Historic Northampton, for the information that she provided regarding
Noah Willoughby Gomer. We thank Lukasz Pliszka for his discovery of a bill that mentions an
unnamed African American man. We thank Gillie Johnson, Wethersfield Historical Society
Educator, for his supplemental research on the Augustus family, Peterson family, Henry Hoxie,
and other individuals featured in this database.

Finally, we wish to thank those whose financial contributions made this database project a
reality. This database was made possible by the generous financial support of the Robert Allan
Keeney Memorial Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Connecticut Humanities,
the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, The American Savings Foundation, M&T Bank Charitable
Foundation, and members of Wethersfield Historical Society.