This story was originally produced by the Keene Sentinel. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Amos Fortune's contributions to Jaffrey have come full circle, as a fund Fortune helped create was used to erect a marker in his memory.
The historical marker is the newest addition to the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire after the nonprofit trail's leadership partnered with Jaffrey's Amos Fortune Fund, which was established upon his death in 1801. Fortune left $233 to the town for educational programs and $100 to the town church to purchase "a handsome gift," according to a release about the marker's installation.
The new marker lies just outside the Jaffrey Meeting House at the entrance to the town's Old Burying Ground — the cemetery where Fortune is buried. The marker takes the form of a plaque embedded into a rock that briefly shares the story of Fortune's life and impact on the town.
Local and state historians and residents along with representatives of the Black Heritage Trail were present Friday night for the plaque's unveiling outside the Meeting House.
Born in Africa about 1711, Amos Fortune was a resident of Jaffrey and lived in town from about 1781 to his death in 1801, according to the plaque. Fortune was enslaved and brought to Massachusetts earlier in his life and learned how to tan leather there, which allowed him to amass savings to buy his freedom. He later used additional savings to free two successive wives — Lydia Somerset in 1778 and Violet Baldwin in 1779.
After Fortune and Baldwin moved to Jaffrey and bought property there, he established a tannery and later became a member of the Church of Jaffrey, and a charter member of the Social Library, the plaque states.
Despite being a positive community figure even before leaving the town an inheritance upon his death, Fortune didn't always see his kindness repaid during his lifetime, according to Terry Robinson, marketing specialist for the Black Heritage Trail.
"Two years before his death, [town residents] voted that Black individuals were not allowed to sit on the first floor of the Jaffrey house; they had to be relegated to the back balcony," said Robinson, of Portsmouth.
Ultimately, the financial gifts Fortune left the town in his will have since accumulated to $40,000, Robinson stated, which the town has long since used to support public education and become a more inclusive community.
"The town uses that to put a forum on every year they named after Amos Fortune, [the Amos Fortune Forum], because he was a great admirer of education," Robinson said.
Following the unveiling Friday night, the Amos Fortune Forum welcomed Jaffrey native Jennifer Gruda, a senior judicial assistant for the U.S. Supreme Court, to talk about her experiences working in the position for the court. The forum is a Jaffrey nonprofit founded in 1946 that features speaking events.
The heritage trail took shape about six years ago as the successor to the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, founded 30 years ago by Valerie Cunningham, according to Robinson. The statewide trail's leadership has a goal to install five historical markers each year in partnership with towns and local nonprofits, and now has 10 such landmarks around New Hampshire remembering the impact and legacy of Black Granite Staters.
For each marker, the Black Heritage Trail tasks a team of researchers with verifying information to be presented on the plaque submitted by applying towns or other organizations, according to JerriAnne Boggis, the statewide trail's executive director.
"It could be a year, or six months [of planning] ... if all the research is done properly, and the marker takes about three months [to complete]," said Boggis, of Milford. "For the application, [groups] put in primary sources and the research committee, which includes about five people, reviews it. Sometimes, they add their own [details] so we're authenticating the information we're getting."
Because of preexisting verified records of Amos Fortune's life researched by the forum, preparation for the trail's latest addition in Jaffrey made up of research and creation of the marker only took about three months, Robinson said.
"The markers take some money to produce, usually between $2,000 to $3,000," he said. "The Black Heritage Trail offers half that cost, and then the community raises the other half.
"With Jaffrey, some of the money from the marker was actually taken out of that fund that Amos Fortune started, so it's kind of amazing that almost 200 years later, it was Fortune who paid for his marker."
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire is next eyeing communities like Colebrook, Concord, Keene and Manchester and to recognize more influential Black history across the Granite State, Boggis said.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visitcollaborativenh.org.
