Primus Hall

Primus Hall (February 29, 1756 – March 22, 1842) was born into slavery. He is believed to be the son of Prince Hall, an abolitionist, American Revolutionary War soldier and founder of the Prince Hall Freemasonry. In 1798¹, he established a school for African American children in his home, and after the school was moved to the African Meeting House, he raised funds until 1835¹. Like his father, he was a recognized leader in the African American community. Having been given to Ezra Trask as a baby, he was also known as Primus Trask, but within the Boston community known to be the son of Prince Hall.

Primus Hall (February 29, 1756 – March 22, 1842) was born into slavery. He is believed to be the son of Prince Hall, an abolitionist, American Revolutionary War soldier and founder of the Prince Hall Freemasonry. In 1798, he established a school for African American children in his home, and after the school was moved to the African Meeting House, he raised funds until 1835. Like his father, he was a recognized leader in the African American community. Having been given to Ezra Trask as a baby, he was also known as Primus Trask, but within the Boston community known to be the son of Prince Hall. ==Early life== Hall was born into slavery on February 29, 1756, in Boston. Because recordkeeping of the era was incomplete, his parentage is uncertain, but a common belief is that his father was Prince Hall and his mother a woman named Deliah. At the time of Hall's birth, Prince Hall was possibly enslaved by William Hall; Prince Hall attained his freedom by 1770. Hall was "bound out" to Ezra Trask, an Essex County shoemaker, as a baby or an infant. An arrangement was made to teach Primus to be a shoemaker, and at twenty-one, he was set to obtain his freedom. Instead, before that happened, due to diagnosed health issues, Hall was given his "freedom with full liberty for me to transact any of all business of every kind." Until 1776, he worked as a truckman and farmer in the Salem, Massachusetts, area. ==Steward to Timothy Pickering== served in the Massachusetts militia and Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He was a politician from Salem, Massachusetts, and the third United States Secretary of State under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. After the war, Hall met Timothy Pickering, a Quartermaster General and politician. Hall offered to work for Pickering, who hired him as a steward. He wrote his wife, "I have luckily met with a likely negro fellow who has lived several years in Salem ... He desired to live with me as a Servant ... He said he would not have tendered me his service, but that I was a New England man, & he knew my character." and further that "he was so intelligent to be capable of learning anything." Pickering's wife lived in Newburgh, New York, and Pickering was posted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hall transported supplies and letters between the two locations during the summer of 1781. Margot Minardi wrote of Hall's proactive offer to work for the Quartermaster General: "Hall's choice to work for Pickering might be best read as a carefully calculated step in this former bondman's upward mobility." The Godey's Lady's Book published an account of Hall engaging with George Washington during a visit to Pickering. Minardi wrote: [W]hile in camp, when Washington felt he needed exercises, Hall set up a sort of jump rope for him, fastening one end to a stake and holding the other taut at his own chest. This anecdote gave an amusing picture of the nation's founding father engaged in play 'with true boyish zest.' It revealed little about Primus Hall, other than he seemed to be at General Washington's beck and call. During another visit, Washington and Pickering had completed their work late in the day. Hall stated that there was an extra blanket and straw for Washington. After Washington and Pickering had fallen asleep, Hall sat on a box, leaning his head into his hands to sleep. Washington awoke, realized that Hall had given him his bed provisions, and insisted that there was sufficient straw and blanket to cover them both. Hall stated that the general need not be concerned, but Washington insisted, and the two men shared the straw and blanket that Hall had given up. ==Boston== ===Family and work life=== Hall was the father of seven children, having married more than once. He established himself, independently, as a soapboiler in Boston after working for Pickering. On May 2, 1786, Primus Trask Hall was married to Phebe Robson by Stephen Lewis at the Christ Church, now commonly known as the Old North Church. They were identified as negros and were married by Rev. Stephen Lewis [who was the minister there at that time]. Phebe died on December 8, 1808 (or December 22, 1808) at 47 years of age of consumption or atrophy. On January 17, 1810, Primus married Martha Gardner, according to Manifesto Church (Brattle Street Church) records. She died of typhoid fever on January 20, 1817, at 36 years of age. Primus Hall was married to Anna Clark on October 29, 1817, by Joshua Huntington. Anna was born February 17, 1791, to Peter Clark, who died June 22, 1820. Hall was an active member of his father's Prince Hall Freemasonry lodge. He was a property owner in Boston. ===Education activism=== , built by Thomas Paul, where African American students obtained their education beginning in 1806. Primus established a school in his home in 1798 to educate 60 African American children and sought funding from the community, including African American sailors. Elisha Sylvester was a teacher there. After Elisha, two Harvard University students taught the school. Unsuccessful in attempts to establish a public school with the city of Boston in 1800, the school was moved to the African Meeting House, the church built by Thomas Paul, an African American minister. Hall was one of the church's founders, and he continued fund-raising to support the African American school until 1835. Besides inspiring Boston's African-Americans to pursue justice and quality in education, the school offered them opportunities for employment and economic growth, which in turn provided funds for future generations of African-American Bostonians to pursue higher education. Hall advocated for better education for African American children, including access to college education. ===Abolitionism=== Primus Hall was active in signing and submitting petitions to the state legislature regarding slavery starting in 1788. He supported William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist viewpoints by the 1830s. ==Boston Harbor fortification== Hall fortified Boston Harbor's Castle Island during the War of 1812. ==War pension benefit== ==Death and obituary== Hall died on March 22, 1842, in Boston. His obituary read that he "was well known, particularly to the younger portions of our citizens, to whom he was in the habit of recounting scenes of the Revolutionary War." ==References== ==Further reading== Robert Ewell Greene, Black Defenders of American, 1775-1973 (1974). Sidney Kaplan and Emma Nogrady Kaplan, The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution (1989). Charles H. Wesley, Prince Hall, Life and Legacy (1977). Arthur O. White, "The Black Leadership Class and Education in Antebellum Boston," The Journal of Negro Education, 42 (Fall 1973): 506–10. George W. Williams, History of the Negro Race in American, 1619-1880 (1968). Nell, William C. The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, 1855. ==External links== Signature of Primus Hall Massachusetts History: African American Revolutionary War soldiers

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