Chapter Nineteen

Speculations on the African Origins of Venture Smith

Paul E. Lovejoy

The Narrative of the Life and Adventuresof Venture Smith, a Native of Africa, chronicles the story of a remarkable man, born in the interior of West Africa in c. 1727 and buried in the cemetery of the Congregational Church in East Haddam, Connecticut in 1805. Like many others, he was sent as a slave across the Atlantic, leaving Anomabu on the Gold Coast in 1739, taken to Rhode Island, and thereafter spending his period of slavery on Long Island and in Connecticut. His account of transatlantic migration is one of the few that has survived for enslaved Africans in the eighteenth century,[1] and like his contemporary, Olaudah Equiano (i.e., Gustavus Vassa), Venture Smith recounts how he was first taken to Barbados and then to North America, although to New England in his case and Virginia in the case of Vassa/Equiano.[2] While Smith played out his life story on Long Island Sound, Vassa journeyed widely in the Caribbean, the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and spent much of his adult life in London. Despite these differences, the two accounts are worth exploring further because of the methodological issues that arise in figuring out where Venture Smith may have come from. In both the case of Smith and Vassa, it is necessary to examine the memories of childhood and the experiences of enslavement and trans-shipment to the Americas.

The problems of chronology and verification of remembered events, places, and people are similar in the two cases. In my estimation, the details of when Smith left Africa are reasonably clear and can be verified, while the information he provides about his experiences in Africa are confusing and difficult to interpret. Vassa’s account of the interior of the Bight of Biafra has the ring of truth, and in telling his story, Vassa clearly reflected on his childhood before writing his narrative in 1788, adding information and interpretation arising from his efforts to understand what he had remembered about Igbo culture and society.[3] In both cases, the details of their early lives are worth examining for what may or may not be revealed about their homelands and experiences in Africa. It can be argued that these memories and details confirm the birth of these two men in Africa and add new information about African culture and society in the middle of the eighteenth century.[4] The identification of Smith’s ethnicity is more problematic than for Vassa, who was clearly Igbo, although here it is possible that the evidence indicates a Fulani background, in which case he might have come from north of Dahomey or some region in the middle Volta River basin, inland from the Gold Coast, but he also might have come from areas where there were no Fulani livestock herders, such as Brong country to the east of Asante and north of Akyem. It can be assumed that Venture Smith reflected on his early life and attempted to make sense out of his memories, and unlike Vassa, there is no apparent political motivation for Smith to have altered what he remembered, other than perhaps claiming that his father was a “king,” a title that had to have been translated from an African language in any case, if his claim was true. Both men may have embellished their accounts of childhood, but it is assumed here that there are kernels of truth in the details of their accounts.

There seems to be no reason to doubt that Venture Smith was born in Africa, although there is some disagreement over his views of his homeland. According to Mechal Sobel, “Venture Smith’s narrative reveals his deep longing for his lost African home and for the people and culture he remembered,”[5] but a careful study of Life and Adventures reveals at best ambivalent attitudes towards Africa. He recounts memories of his youth but gives no indication that he ever wanted to return there. According to his testimony, he was “born at Dukandarra, in Guinea,” his childhood name being “Broteer,” the eldest son of “Saungm Furro, Prince of the tribe of Dukandarra,” his two brothers by the same mother being “Cundazo” and “Soozaduka.” Despite information about his birthplace, his family, and the circumstances of his enslavement and movement to the coast, it is not until he reached the Gold Coast that any part of Venture’s story of Africa can be verified. The details of his departure are unusual in that Venture provides the name of the captain of the slave ship that he was on, besides the fact that he was at Anomabu. In his own words,

On a certain time I and other prisoners were put on board a canoe, under our master, and rowed away to a vessel belonging to Rhode-Island, commanded by capt. Collingwood, and the mate Thomas Mumford. While we were going to the vessel, our master told us all to appear to the best possible advantage for sale. I was bought on board by one Robertson Mumford,[6] steward of said vessel, for four gallons of rum, and a piece of calico, and called VENTURE, on account of his having purchased me with his own private venture. Thus I came by my name. All the slaves that were bought for that vessel's cargo, were two hundred and sixty.[7]

On the basis of this information, it is possible to identify his ship as the Charming Susanna, which left Newport, R.I. on October 6, 1738 under the command of Captain James Collingwood, and which probably reached the Gold Coast in the first half of 1739. The ship is listed in the voyage database compiled by David Eltis and his associates, arriving in Barbados on 23 August 1739, although previously it was not known where the ship had gone in Africa. Venture Smith remembers that 260 slaves were purchased and taken to Barbados, but the surviving records for the Charming Susanna indicate that ninety-one slaves were actually purchased, of whom seventy-four were disembarked at Barbados..[8] As Smith notes, Robinson Mumford, the steward, bought him. Robinson Mumford was related to the ship’s first mate, Thomas Mumford, who is probably the same Thomas Mumford who was captain of Rhode Island slave ships in 1735 and 1737. The family was familiar with the West African coast and helps to substantiate Venture’s claim that he left from Anomabu. After Robinson Mumford’s death, apparently at sea in about 1740–41, his father, George (d. 1756), became Venture’s owner.

Since Smith’s account of leaving Africa is confirmed by shipping records, the coastal point of his embarkation is crucial in identifying Smith’s ethnic background. The task of identifying the people and places that he mentions in the interior of the Gold Coast raises issues of methodology, however, and specifically how to decipher his geography, his phonetic pronunciation of places and people, and therefore the identity of those names and places. Based on what he wrote, Smith claims to have remembered a considerable amount of detail about the interior of the Gold Coast, and specifically about incidents relating to the enslavement of the inhabitants of his hometown, wherever that was located.

On the assumption that Venture Smith was retelling memories of his childhood as accurately as he could remember, I think he reveals knowledge of geography and details of places and people of a boy about twelve, not six and a half, as he calculated. As his achievements later in life demonstrated, Smith had a good sense of direction and was clearly very intelligent. Hence, it is assumed that his memories reflect a reasonably good indication of where he came from, with the names of people and places permitting an identification of his specific place of origin. If he were as young as he says he was, in my opinion, Smith’s account would most likely have had to be a fabrication. It is hard to imagine a child of six remembering the details recounted in the narrative, although a child of that age might remember the names of a few places and people. As the following discussion demonstrates, Smith’s evidence does conform to the geography of the interior of the Gold Coast, but the identification of names and places has proven to be difficult. The reconstruction here is speculative, based on possible correlations with the political history of the interior and the correspondence with Smith’s geographical reflections.

There are other problems with the published account, since Smith was illiterate and dictated his story, apparently to Elisha Niles, a local schoolteacher who is credited with writing the text, according to traditions that were published in 1897.[9]Niles provides no clues about his involvement in his surviving diary from the 1790s, unfortunately, but it can be assumed that he tried to capture phonetically what Smith told him. As noted in the introduction to Life and Adventures, presumably written by Niles, the “account is published in compliance with the earnest desire of the subject of it, and likewise a number of respectable persons who are acquainted with him.” Stylistically, Niles’ diary and Life and Adventuresare very different, suggesting that Niles served as a scribe and not as an author or even much of an editor of the text, and hence the account appears to be Smith’s voice, although dictated. However, were errors introduced in the recording of African names, as happened in recording the names of Smith’s first owner as Robertson Mumford when it was actually Robinson Mumford? Indeed the copy of Life and Adventures at Yale University has “corrections” written on the front cover that suggest alternate ways of deciphering the names in the published text. While it is not clear who inserted these alternate forms, it is possible that Smith was given the chance to amend what had been published. The gloss on the Yale copy, as best as can be deciphered, suggest alternates to the names of his two brothers and the place from which he came. Instead of Cundazo and Soozaduka, the gloss appears to read “Condozo” and “Suzaduka,” both of which are admittedly minor variations but nonetheless variations, and instead of “Dukandarra,” the word “Duncandarra” is written, which also may or may not be significant. It may be that the Yale copy of Life and Adventuresbelonged to Venture Smith or one of the individuals who testified in 1798 to the authenticity of Life and Adventures. Hence the details of the account have to allow for the possibility that the published text altered Smith’s pronunciation of names and places, however slightly.

While the authenticity of Smith’s birth in Africa seems certain, the date of his birth has to be questioned. Smith’s Life and Adventures states that he was born “about the year 1729,” which suggests he would have been about ten when he was sold to Robinson Mumford in 1739. The testimony of Nathaniel Minor, Elijah Palmer, Captain Amos Palmer, Acors Sheffield, and Edward Smith at Stonington on November 3, 1798 confirms that Life and Adventureswas authentic and that Venture was “a native of Africa,…a free negro man, aged about 69 years.” However, his tombstone, which he commissioned, and therefore also must be considered to represent his voice, is inscribed: “Sacred to the Memory of Venture Smith an African tho the Son of a King he was kidnapped & Sold as a Slave but by his industry he acquired Money to purchase his Freedom who Died Sept 19th 1805 in ye 77th Year of his Age,” which suggests that he was born in 1727 or 1728, in which case he would have been closer to twelve when he boarded the Charming Susanna off Anomabu.

Some personal details in Life and Adventuresare useful in helping to establish his age, since he noted that his parents separated over a dispute when his father took another wife, although his parents subsequently were reconciled, , which suggests that he had to have been old enough to understand that his parents had had a serious disagreement or at least to have thought that they had. Comprehension of this type of situation seems more likely for a boy of twelve or so, not one of six and a half. Similarly, on the march to the coast, Venture remembered that he had had “very hard tasks imposed on me, which I must perform on pain of punishment. I was obliged to carry on my head a large flat stone used for grinding our corn, weighing as I should suppose, as much as 25 pounds; besides victuals, mat and cooking utensils. Though I was pretty large and stout of my age, yet these burthens were very grievious to me, being only about six years and an half old.”[10] Smith was very likely a strong boy; he grew to be 6 ft. 2 in. height and weight 300lbs,[11] but to have carried a heavy load, he was probably not six but much older.

In attempting to identify Venture’s home in the interior of the Gold Coast, the discussion will proceed in three ways, first working backwards from the approximate date of Venture’s departure from Anomabu in late May or early June 1739; second by attempting to link various details in Venture’s account with known political and military activities in the interior of the Gold Coast in c. 1735-39; and third by examining various terms and descriptions that might provide evidence of a cultural nature. In my opinion, there are three possibilities that can explain his passage to the coast, first and most likely, the activities of Akyem inland from the Fante coast and Accra; second, Asante aggression in Brong territory or other areas to the east and north of Kumase, the Asante capital; and third, the activities of Dahomey and its attempt to quell its former ally, Little Popo, to the east of the Gold Coast.

According to what Smith remembered, the predatory army that had seized him in the interior marched him to the coast, reaching a “district which was contiguous to the sea, called in Africa, Anamaboo.”[12]This “district” could be a reference to the actual town of Anomabu or to the Fante confederation, of which Anomabu was the largest town.[13] By 1739, Eno Baisie Kurentsi, known to Europeans as John Currantee, had become the most important merchant at Anomabu. Currantee was variously described as ohene, principal caboceer, captain, chief magistrate and general on the Fante coast, and remained a leading merchant until his death in 1764.[14]

Anomabu was reasonably well known in the late 1730s and 1740s. The Royal African: or Memoirs of the Young Prince of Annamaboe, published in about 1749, described the experiences of the adopted son of John Currantee, William Ansah, who had been sent to England for an education in the 1740s. Ansah initially had been tricked and sold into slavery, but he was subsequently redeemed by the British government, and according to Priestley, came under the personal charge of Lord Halifax, Commissioner of Trade and Plantations, and was even introduced to King George II.[15]Two poems published in Gentlemen’s Magazine in London in 1749 also referred to the same incident.[16]

However, in 1739,there was no castle at Anomabu. The castle, Fort Charles, had been abandoned in the early eighteenth century and was in ruins; Fort William was not built until 1753.[17] At the time Venture Smith was there,the trade at Anomabu was handled through a ship, the Argyle, which was anchored off the coast from 1737 until early 1743, serving as a “floating factory” for a syndicate operating out of London that sold slaves to passing ships. Venture’s reference to being held in a castle, therefore, was not to a castle at Anomabu but could refer to any one of a number of establishments to the east of Anomabu as far as Accra, which forwarded slaves by canoe to Anomabu or elsewhere that ships were waiting. The Danish fort, Christiansborg, for example, was re-selling slaves to ships at Anomabu via the Argyle in this period.[18]The Gold Coast was a common destination for Rhode Island ships, as Anomabu was for the Charming Susanna in 1738-39.[19] It is not clear which castle Smith was in, but in any event, the identification of Anomabu as the point of reference suggests a possible link with Akyem, which controlled the immediate interior of the Fante coast and Accra.[20]

Venture’s description of his arrival at Anomabu is curious, because his captors were attacked and he was seized, along with everything the captors had in their possession. According to Smith’s account “The inhabitants [of Anomabu] knowing what conduct they [Venture Smith’s captors] had pursued, and what were their present intentions, improved the favorable opportunity, attacked them, and took enemy, prisoners, flocks and all their effects.”[21] The description sounds like the practice of “panyarring,” which was common on the Gold Coast in this period. “Panyarring” involved the seizure of goods that were considered to be legitimate compensation for a debt.[22] Such seizures were considered acceptable in situations in which communities were held collectively responsible for debts or wrong doing. Hence what at first might appear to be random violence in fact conforms to known practices on the Gold Coast and is fully understandable in the context of Gold Coast politics and economy in the 1730s. Numerous examples of “panyarring” are reported in Danish, Dutch and English sources for this period.[23] It may well have been the case that the Venture’s captors, whom he later thought had been “instigated by some white nation who equipped and sent them to subdue and possess the country,”[24]were in debt to Fante merchants at Anomabu, such as John Currantee, or one of the other “caboceers” on the Fante coast, which could account for the apparently arbitrary seizure of slaves and property. It appears that Smith’s captors were known on the coast, which suggests that this may have been either an Asante or Akyem detachment. Anomabu was the terminus of one of the most important roads between the coast and Asante capital at Kumase, but in the late 1730s, the road to Elmina seems to have been more important and it is not known if the Kumase road was open.[25]