Enslaved people in New England were considered part of the household for which they labored. They often slept in the same building with the master’s family, worked alongside family members, and were expected to participate actively in the church community. Former slaves often referred to themselves as having been “raised in the family” of their enslaver.

What did it mean to be part of an 18th-century family? Today, we assume that families are connected by strong ties of affection. In contrast, the 18th-century family was bound together much more tightly by duty and mutual obligation. The family was a hierarchical unit headed by a patriarch (or his widow) who exercised authority over the entire family, including children, apprentices, servants, and slaves, and was accountable for their physical and spiritual well-being. Every household member was responsible for specific domestic and agricultural tasks that would ensure the well-being of the family as a whole. The head of the household had a legal right to use physical force to compel obedience from any family member.

That Daniel Arms and Titus spent a January day in 1762 working side by side for another Deerfield farmer in no way meant that they were perceived as equals. Deerfield church members made Titus’ enslaved, subordinate status clear when they rebuked him for “di[s]obedience to his master.” This fundamental inequality was again confirmed when Titus was, without a trial, publicly whipped for stealing, and when Daniel Arms sold him in exchange for 19 shillings—the price of four gallons of West India rum.