Woodstock’s African-American Community
By Jordan Engel
Woodstock has a long history of African-American residents. The first, according to Henry Swan Dana’s History of Woodstock, was a 10 year old named Cato Boston who was brought to Woodstock as a slave in 1774 by Woodstock’s first doctor, Stephen Powers. Cato went to fight in the War of 1812, and there is no mention of him after that.
While Cato was the first Black person in Woodstock, he was not the last. Several years ago, as part of the Fourth-Grade History Fair, Bob Holt and a group of students culled through the census records from 1790 to 1940 to determine how many African-Americans lived in Woodstock during the various decades. In 1790 there were 4 Black residents. Starting in 1820, the population began to rise, and by 1860 there were 56 African-Americans living in Woodstock.
After 1860, the African-American population began to fall, and by 1990 there were fewer than 5 Black residents. Tom Hazard, who was living in Woodstock during this time, is remembered fondly by many Woodstockers as being a wonderful man. He was a descendant of the first Thomas Hazard who came to Woodstock in the early 1800s. Tom died in 1993, and like many Black residents before him, he is buried in the River Street Cemetery.
Why did so many Black Americans live in Woodstock, a small, very white and very rural town? Why did the population drop during the 150-year period after the Civil War? And what was life like for this minority whose experience in so many places in our country was one of segregation and racism.
We have relatively few clues. For instance, Henry Swan Dana wrote in his History of Woodstock that Cato was accused of burning down the courthouse, but the Vermont Supreme Court threw the case out for lack of evidence. Henry Swan Dana also wrote that sometime in the 1830s-1840s a group of about 40 men attacked the home of a Black man, “Mr. Freeman,” and his family and tore it down.
In the River Street Cemetery, Black residents are buried together in a small area in the back of the cemetery.
On the other hand, Vermont was the first state in the Union to prohibit adult slavery. And, as one of the states closest to Canada, Vermont was supportive, through the Underground Railway, of escaped slaves searching for freedom. Titus Hutchinson, a well-known and influential figure in Woodstock who died in 1857, was a leader in the Vermont abolitionist movement.
Tom Hazard’s sister, Marion, was in Woodstock High School’s class of 1939 which decided to take its class trip to Washington, DC until they discovered that Marion would not be able to stay in the same hotel as the rest of the group. The class decided to go to New York City instead.
I wonder if the growth of Woodstock’s African-American population in the mid 1800s was a result of a growing reputation as a safe place for Black people to live. Kathy Wendling, the long-time history columnist for the Vermont Standard, wrote that at one time Woodstock had the second largest African-American population in Vermont. Many villages in Vermont had significant Black populations, as evidenced in the censuses and the number of Black residents buried in town cemeteries.
More to come.
Tom Hazard (pictured above with two children) was active in community affairs, including Rotary, the American Legion, Boy Scouts, and the Saint James Church.