Chance Bradstreet (16 Elm Street Plaque)

This piece of land, which is now a parking lot for the municipal buildings behind it, was once the site of a home that is now preserved at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. Among the many residents of this home since its construction in 1760, was an enslaved man named Chance Bradstreet. Chance was born in 1762 in Marblehead to an enslaved woman named Phillis. He and his mother were owned by Reverend Simon Bradstreet. Chance came to Ipswich several years after Bradstreet’s death when he was loaned to Abraham Dodge for 12 years for the sum of 30 British pounds. Chance probably worked both in the home and in the fields owned by Dodge, however, other records show that Chance also worked at the water drying and preserving codfish to be shipped to Europe and to the West Indies to feed slaves. That fish was a commodity in a large network of trade that connected Ipswich, and individuals like Chance, to other ports of trade around the world. The triangular trade, as it is known, is the subject of the next stop.

For more information on Chance and the historic home that once stood at this site visit "Within these Walls" to explore the exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Sources:

Child, Christopher Challender "Chance Bradstreet (1762-1810), Servant of Abraham Dodge of Ipswich, Massachusetts" https://www.americanancestors.org/chance-bradstreet

Massachusetts Constitution and the Abolition of Slavery https://www.mass.gov/guides/massachusetts-constitution-and-the-abolition-of-slavery#-introduction-to-judicial-review-and-slavery-

Nickles, Shelley "Finding new stories in an old house: Chance Bradstreet and "Within These Walls" https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/new-stories-old-house

Nodjimbadem, Katie "Newly Uncovered Documents Address the Mystery of One Slave’s Life" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/newly-uncovered-documents-address-mystery-one-slaves-life-180964218/