Birth & Death Dates Unknown — Appears in Records from 1754 – 1756

Thomas Bailey (Baley) of Warren’s Point thought carefully about giving his enslaved man Quacko his freedom and made provisions for it in his will in 1788. Quacko may or may not have known about his impending emancipation, but if he did know, he had to wait five years until his master’s death for it to take effect.

I give my Negro Man named Quacko his freedom to Be for himself at My Decease and Do hereby make it known in this my Will that he is not to be a Servant or Slave to any of my heirs or Executors after my Desease.    

Last Will & Testament of Thomas Baley, Written 1788, Proved 1793^[1]Will of Thomas Baley, Little Compton Town Council & Probate Records, Book 3, p. 262.

Quacko married a woman named Rebekah and together they had a child named Mariah.  Quacko and his family moved to Dartmouth as free people but maintained their ties with the Baileys and their other servants like Barbary.^[2]Will of Barbary Bailey, Little Compton Town Council & Probate Records, Book 2, p. 451-453.

Marjory Gomez O’Toole, Executive Director, LCHS

First published in “If Jane Should Want to Be Sold: Stories of Enslavement, Indenture and Freedom in Little Compton, Rhode Island,” by the Little Compton Historical Society, 2016.

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