Spouse: Susanna Wheeler m. 25 December 1741
Children: John Wheatley, Susanna Wheatley, Sarah Wheatley, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, and Nathaniel Wheatley
Affiliation: Constable of Boston
Faith: Congregationalist
Nationality: Anglo-American
Occupation: tailor
Residence: King Street, Boston, Massachusetts
John Wheatley was a prominent Bostonian and owner of the slave, Phillis Wheatley, who became the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. Wheatley was a tailor with a wealthy clientele that included men like John Hancock. He was also a merchant and money-lender, and he became one of two constables of Boston in 1739. In 1761, Wheatley purchased a young girl from West Africa to serve as a servant for his wife Susanna. The Wheatleys supported the Revolutionary cause and had a large and influential circle of friends and acquaintances; many visiting Presbyterian and Anglican Methodist ministers stayed at their house. John Thornton, the English philanthropist and treasurer of the English Trust for Wheelock's Indian School, sent Wheatley donations for Indian missions in the colonies. Although Susanna was more actively involved in furthering Phillis's career as a prodigy and poet, John Wheatley put his name to the letter circulated in Boston and published in the newspapers attesting to the authenticity of Phillis's authorship of the poems (although some critics argue it was dictated by his son Nathaniel); this document is one of several that preface the edition of Phillis's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" published in London in 1773. Wheatley freed Phillis after she returned from England and she continued to live in his house while she nursed Susanna through her final illness.
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/personography/pers0572.ocp.html
*****
On July 11, 1761, John Wheatley, a successful merchant, purchased a frail African girl off a slave ship in Boston. The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the vessel that had brought her across the Atlantic from her home in West Africa. The family soon discovered that Phillis was an exceptional child. Their daughter, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, taught her to read the Bible and later English, Latin, and Greek classics. Phillis Wheatley's first poem was published in 1767; she was about 14 years old. When a London publisher issued a book of her verse in 1773, she became the first African in America to have a book of poetry published. In spite of this early success, she died poor and unknown in 1784.
"Phillis Wheatley Arrives in Boston," https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/john-wheatley-purchases-a-slave-child.html
*****
Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa in modern day Senegal or Gambia, her date of birth is not exactly known but it is believed that she was born around 1753. She was captured by a slave trader when she was seven or eight years old and transported across the Atlantic to America through the route known as the Middle Passage, part of the transatlantic slave trade. The traveling conditions were inhumane as slave traders tried to maximize their profits by fitting as many people as possible, mortality rate was about 12%.
Phillis' voyage to America took seven weeks, she somehow survived and arrived in Boston on July 11, 1761 in the slave ship the Phillis. At her tender years the voyage and the weather conditions weakened her, she must have stood out as a little helpless child in that slave market where there was little chance for her to be purchased. Fortunately for Phillis, she caught the attention of Susanna Wheatley, the wife of John Wheatley, a wealthy merchant. The family was in need of a young female servant to help Susanna and her daughter Mary. Something in Phillis must have won their hearts as her delicate and weak looks only meant increasing the burden of the household. Susanna Wheatley chose Phillis over other healthier and stronger slaves.
Her new home was in a fashionable Boston neighborhood in what was King Street and Mackerel Lane, currently State Street and Kilby Street. The Wheatleys were a wealthy family. John Wheatley had several business ventures, he was a prominent merchant with a store on King Street and real estate investor, he was also a town official but his primary occupation was that of a very successful tailor. Among his customers were aristocrats John Hancock and James Otis, Jr.
Phillis was baptized and named after the ship that brought her to America, Phillis, and as it was the convention of the time she was given her owner's last name. Phillis did not speak English, she communicated in gestures and signs, but very soon she was able to understand and express herself in English. According to John Wheatley's letter in the preface of her book, Phillis was reading the most difficult passages of the Bible eighteen months after her arrival in Boston.
Phillis had difficulty adjusting to the weather in New England, she developed asthma and other ailments that weakened her. Her duty in the Wheatley's household was light house work, she served her mistress mostly as a companion.
Phillis Wheatley Historical Society, http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/biography-early-life
*****
Letter form John Wheatley to Publisher
Phillis was brought from Africa to America in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age. Without any assistance from school education, and by only what she was taught in the family, she, in eighteen months' time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree as to read any, the most difficult parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her writing, her own curiosity led her to it; and this she learned in so short a time, thatt in the year 1765 she wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Occum, the Indian minister, while in England.
She has a great inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and had made some progress in it.
This relation is given by her Master, who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
John Wheatley.
Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.
http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/letter-john-whealtey
Children: John Wheatley, Susanna Wheatley, Sarah Wheatley, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, and Nathaniel Wheatley
Affiliation: Constable of Boston
Faith: Congregationalist
Nationality: Anglo-American
Occupation: tailor
Residence: King Street, Boston, Massachusetts
John Wheatley was a prominent Bostonian and owner of the slave, Phillis Wheatley, who became the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. Wheatley was a tailor with a wealthy clientele that included men like John Hancock. He was also a merchant and money-lender, and he became one of two constables of Boston in 1739. In 1761, Wheatley purchased a young girl from West Africa to serve as a servant for his wife Susanna. The Wheatleys supported the Revolutionary cause and had a large and influential circle of friends and acquaintances; many visiting Presbyterian and Anglican Methodist ministers stayed at their house. John Thornton, the English philanthropist and treasurer of the English Trust for Wheelock's Indian School, sent Wheatley donations for Indian missions in the colonies. Although Susanna was more actively involved in furthering Phillis's career as a prodigy and poet, John Wheatley put his name to the letter circulated in Boston and published in the newspapers attesting to the authenticity of Phillis's authorship of the poems (although some critics argue it was dictated by his son Nathaniel); this document is one of several that preface the edition of Phillis's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" published in London in 1773. Wheatley freed Phillis after she returned from England and she continued to live in his house while she nursed Susanna through her final illness.
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/personography/pers0572.ocp.html
*****
On July 11, 1761, John Wheatley, a successful merchant, purchased a frail African girl off a slave ship in Boston. The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the vessel that had brought her across the Atlantic from her home in West Africa. The family soon discovered that Phillis was an exceptional child. Their daughter, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, taught her to read the Bible and later English, Latin, and Greek classics. Phillis Wheatley's first poem was published in 1767; she was about 14 years old. When a London publisher issued a book of her verse in 1773, she became the first African in America to have a book of poetry published. In spite of this early success, she died poor and unknown in 1784.
"Phillis Wheatley Arrives in Boston," https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/john-wheatley-purchases-a-slave-child.html
*****
Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa in modern day Senegal or Gambia, her date of birth is not exactly known but it is believed that she was born around 1753. She was captured by a slave trader when she was seven or eight years old and transported across the Atlantic to America through the route known as the Middle Passage, part of the transatlantic slave trade. The traveling conditions were inhumane as slave traders tried to maximize their profits by fitting as many people as possible, mortality rate was about 12%.
Phillis' voyage to America took seven weeks, she somehow survived and arrived in Boston on July 11, 1761 in the slave ship the Phillis. At her tender years the voyage and the weather conditions weakened her, she must have stood out as a little helpless child in that slave market where there was little chance for her to be purchased. Fortunately for Phillis, she caught the attention of Susanna Wheatley, the wife of John Wheatley, a wealthy merchant. The family was in need of a young female servant to help Susanna and her daughter Mary. Something in Phillis must have won their hearts as her delicate and weak looks only meant increasing the burden of the household. Susanna Wheatley chose Phillis over other healthier and stronger slaves.
Her new home was in a fashionable Boston neighborhood in what was King Street and Mackerel Lane, currently State Street and Kilby Street. The Wheatleys were a wealthy family. John Wheatley had several business ventures, he was a prominent merchant with a store on King Street and real estate investor, he was also a town official but his primary occupation was that of a very successful tailor. Among his customers were aristocrats John Hancock and James Otis, Jr.
Phillis was baptized and named after the ship that brought her to America, Phillis, and as it was the convention of the time she was given her owner's last name. Phillis did not speak English, she communicated in gestures and signs, but very soon she was able to understand and express herself in English. According to John Wheatley's letter in the preface of her book, Phillis was reading the most difficult passages of the Bible eighteen months after her arrival in Boston.
Phillis had difficulty adjusting to the weather in New England, she developed asthma and other ailments that weakened her. Her duty in the Wheatley's household was light house work, she served her mistress mostly as a companion.
Phillis Wheatley Historical Society, http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/biography-early-life
*****
Letter form John Wheatley to Publisher
Phillis was brought from Africa to America in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age. Without any assistance from school education, and by only what she was taught in the family, she, in eighteen months' time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree as to read any, the most difficult parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her writing, her own curiosity led her to it; and this she learned in so short a time, thatt in the year 1765 she wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Occum, the Indian minister, while in England.
She has a great inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and had made some progress in it.
This relation is given by her Master, who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
John Wheatley.
Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.
http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/letter-john-whealtey
Spouse: Susanna Wheeler m. 25 December 1741
Children: John Wheatley, Susanna Wheatley, Sarah Wheatley, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, and Nathaniel Wheatley
Affiliation: Constable of Boston
Faith: Congregationalist
Nationality: Anglo-American
Occupation: tailor
Residence: King Street, Boston, Massachusetts
John Wheatley was a prominent Bostonian and owner of the slave, Phillis Wheatley, who became the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. Wheatley was a tailor with a wealthy clientele that included men like John Hancock. He was also a merchant and money-lender, and he became one of two constables of Boston in 1739. In 1761, Wheatley purchased a young girl from West Africa to serve as a servant for his wife Susanna. The Wheatleys supported the Revolutionary cause and had a large and influential circle of friends and acquaintances; many visiting Presbyterian and Anglican Methodist ministers stayed at their house. John Thornton, the English philanthropist and treasurer of the English Trust for Wheelock's Indian School, sent Wheatley donations for Indian missions in the colonies. Although Susanna was more actively involved in furthering Phillis's career as a prodigy and poet, John Wheatley put his name to the letter circulated in Boston and published in the newspapers attesting to the authenticity of Phillis's authorship of the poems (although some critics argue it was dictated by his son Nathaniel); this document is one of several that preface the edition of Phillis's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" published in London in 1773. Wheatley freed Phillis after she returned from England and she continued to live in his house while she nursed Susanna through her final illness.
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/personography/pers0572.ocp.html
*****
On July 11, 1761, John Wheatley, a successful merchant, purchased a frail African girl off a slave ship in Boston. The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the vessel that had brought her across the Atlantic from her home in West Africa. The family soon discovered that Phillis was an exceptional child. Their daughter, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, taught her to read the Bible and later English, Latin, and Greek classics. Phillis Wheatley's first poem was published in 1767; she was about 14 years old. When a London publisher issued a book of her verse in 1773, she became the first African in America to have a book of poetry published. In spite of this early success, she died poor and unknown in 1784.
"Phillis Wheatley Arrives in Boston," https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/john-wheatley-purchases-a-slave-child.html
*****
Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa in modern day Senegal or Gambia, her date of birth is not exactly known but it is believed that she was born around 1753. She was captured by a slave trader when she was seven or eight years old and transported across the Atlantic to America through the route known as the Middle Passage, part of the transatlantic slave trade. The traveling conditions were inhumane as slave traders tried to maximize their profits by fitting as many people as possible, mortality rate was about 12%.
Phillis' voyage to America took seven weeks, she somehow survived and arrived in Boston on July 11, 1761 in the slave ship the Phillis. At her tender years the voyage and the weather conditions weakened her, she must have stood out as a little helpless child in that slave market where there was little chance for her to be purchased. Fortunately for Phillis, she caught the attention of Susanna Wheatley, the wife of John Wheatley, a wealthy merchant. The family was in need of a young female servant to help Susanna and her daughter Mary. Something in Phillis must have won their hearts as her delicate and weak looks only meant increasing the burden of the household. Susanna Wheatley chose Phillis over other healthier and stronger slaves.
Her new home was in a fashionable Boston neighborhood in what was King Street and Mackerel Lane, currently State Street and Kilby Street. The Wheatleys were a wealthy family. John Wheatley had several business ventures, he was a prominent merchant with a store on King Street and real estate investor, he was also a town official but his primary occupation was that of a very successful tailor. Among his customers were aristocrats John Hancock and James Otis, Jr.
Phillis was baptized and named after the ship that brought her to America, Phillis, and as it was the convention of the time she was given her owner's last name. Phillis did not speak English, she communicated in gestures and signs, but very soon she was able to understand and express herself in English. According to John Wheatley's letter in the preface of her book, Phillis was reading the most difficult passages of the Bible eighteen months after her arrival in Boston.
Phillis had difficulty adjusting to the weather in New England, she developed asthma and other ailments that weakened her. Her duty in the Wheatley's household was light house work, she served her mistress mostly as a companion.
Phillis Wheatley Historical Society, http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/biography-early-life
*****
Letter form John Wheatley to Publisher
Phillis was brought from Africa to America in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age. Without any assistance from school education, and by only what she was taught in the family, she, in eighteen months' time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree as to read any, the most difficult parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her writing, her own curiosity led her to it; and this she learned in so short a time, thatt in the year 1765 she wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Occum, the Indian minister, while in England.
She has a great inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and had made some progress in it.
This relation is given by her Master, who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
John Wheatley.
Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.
http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/letter-john-whealtey
Children: John Wheatley, Susanna Wheatley, Sarah Wheatley, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, and Nathaniel Wheatley
Affiliation: Constable of Boston
Faith: Congregationalist
Nationality: Anglo-American
Occupation: tailor
Residence: King Street, Boston, Massachusetts
John Wheatley was a prominent Bostonian and owner of the slave, Phillis Wheatley, who became the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry. Wheatley was a tailor with a wealthy clientele that included men like John Hancock. He was also a merchant and money-lender, and he became one of two constables of Boston in 1739. In 1761, Wheatley purchased a young girl from West Africa to serve as a servant for his wife Susanna. The Wheatleys supported the Revolutionary cause and had a large and influential circle of friends and acquaintances; many visiting Presbyterian and Anglican Methodist ministers stayed at their house. John Thornton, the English philanthropist and treasurer of the English Trust for Wheelock's Indian School, sent Wheatley donations for Indian missions in the colonies. Although Susanna was more actively involved in furthering Phillis's career as a prodigy and poet, John Wheatley put his name to the letter circulated in Boston and published in the newspapers attesting to the authenticity of Phillis's authorship of the poems (although some critics argue it was dictated by his son Nathaniel); this document is one of several that preface the edition of Phillis's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" published in London in 1773. Wheatley freed Phillis after she returned from England and she continued to live in his house while she nursed Susanna through her final illness.
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/personography/pers0572.ocp.html
*****
On July 11, 1761, John Wheatley, a successful merchant, purchased a frail African girl off a slave ship in Boston. The Wheatleys named her Phillis, after the vessel that had brought her across the Atlantic from her home in West Africa. The family soon discovered that Phillis was an exceptional child. Their daughter, Mary Wheatley Lathrop, taught her to read the Bible and later English, Latin, and Greek classics. Phillis Wheatley's first poem was published in 1767; she was about 14 years old. When a London publisher issued a book of her verse in 1773, she became the first African in America to have a book of poetry published. In spite of this early success, she died poor and unknown in 1784.
"Phillis Wheatley Arrives in Boston," https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/john-wheatley-purchases-a-slave-child.html
*****
Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa in modern day Senegal or Gambia, her date of birth is not exactly known but it is believed that she was born around 1753. She was captured by a slave trader when she was seven or eight years old and transported across the Atlantic to America through the route known as the Middle Passage, part of the transatlantic slave trade. The traveling conditions were inhumane as slave traders tried to maximize their profits by fitting as many people as possible, mortality rate was about 12%.
Phillis' voyage to America took seven weeks, she somehow survived and arrived in Boston on July 11, 1761 in the slave ship the Phillis. At her tender years the voyage and the weather conditions weakened her, she must have stood out as a little helpless child in that slave market where there was little chance for her to be purchased. Fortunately for Phillis, she caught the attention of Susanna Wheatley, the wife of John Wheatley, a wealthy merchant. The family was in need of a young female servant to help Susanna and her daughter Mary. Something in Phillis must have won their hearts as her delicate and weak looks only meant increasing the burden of the household. Susanna Wheatley chose Phillis over other healthier and stronger slaves.
Her new home was in a fashionable Boston neighborhood in what was King Street and Mackerel Lane, currently State Street and Kilby Street. The Wheatleys were a wealthy family. John Wheatley had several business ventures, he was a prominent merchant with a store on King Street and real estate investor, he was also a town official but his primary occupation was that of a very successful tailor. Among his customers were aristocrats John Hancock and James Otis, Jr.
Phillis was baptized and named after the ship that brought her to America, Phillis, and as it was the convention of the time she was given her owner's last name. Phillis did not speak English, she communicated in gestures and signs, but very soon she was able to understand and express herself in English. According to John Wheatley's letter in the preface of her book, Phillis was reading the most difficult passages of the Bible eighteen months after her arrival in Boston.
Phillis had difficulty adjusting to the weather in New England, she developed asthma and other ailments that weakened her. Her duty in the Wheatley's household was light house work, she served her mistress mostly as a companion.
Phillis Wheatley Historical Society, http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/biography-early-life
*****
Letter form John Wheatley to Publisher
Phillis was brought from Africa to America in the year 1761, between seven and eight years of age. Without any assistance from school education, and by only what she was taught in the family, she, in eighteen months' time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree as to read any, the most difficult parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great astonishment of all who heard her.
As to her writing, her own curiosity led her to it; and this she learned in so short a time, thatt in the year 1765 she wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Occum, the Indian minister, while in England.
She has a great inclination to learn the Latin Tongue, and had made some progress in it.
This relation is given by her Master, who bought her, and with whom she now lives.
John Wheatley.
Boston, Nov. 14, 1772.
http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/letter-john-whealtey
Inscription
In
Memory
of
Mr. JOHN WHEATLEY
An induftrious member of society
and humble chriftian.
who
departed this Life
12th March 1778. AEts, 72.
Mr. JOHN WHEATLEY
1778
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