Moses Grandy’s life a lesson in perseverance

Moses Grandy was born into slavery in Camden County, North Carolina. After more than 50 years of bondage, Grandy was finally able to buy his freedom. The key component in Grandy’s success was an incredible amount of perseverance.

Grandy was not alone in his quest for liberty. Others fled enslavement by escaping to the Great Dismal Swamp and forming colonies where they could live in relative freedom.

An illustration by William Hoffman in the Dismal Swamp gallery at the Great Bridge Battlefield and Historic Waterways Museum depicts maroons — fugitive slaves — in the Dismal Swamp. Hoffman’s artwork conjures up an image that reflects the era in which Grandy lived and worked on the Dismal Swamp canal.

Grandy recounts his story in his own words in the “Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy: Late a Slave in the United States of America,” published first in London and later in Boston in the early 1840s.

In the book’s introduction, London editor George Thompson noted that he listened to Grandy’s “artless tale with entire confidence.”

“His history is not only authentic, but most extraordinary, and full of thrilling interest,” wrote Thompson, who dictated Grandy’s narrative in 1842. “He was compelled to buy his freedom three times over! He paid for it $1850.”

The publication of Grandy’s story was calculated, according to Thompson, to promote a more “extensive knowledge” of the nature of slavery in America.

“It was written as a way for him to be able to buy the freedom of his wife and some of his children, but it was also written as propaganda for the abolitionist movement,” said Elizabeth Goodwin, executive director of the Great Bridge Museum.

When Grandy’s master died, he became the property of James Grandy, his master’s son, who was 8 years old at the time. It was the custom for the slaves of underage masters to be hired out. Grandy was hired out by auction at the courthouse every January.

George Furley was among Grandy’s many temporary masters over the years. He employed young Moses as a car boy in the Dismal Swamp. It was a welcome change from field work. He drove lumber and hauled shingles.

“I had plenty to eat and plenty of clothes. I was so overjoyed at the change, that I then thought I would not have left that place to go to heaven,” Grandy said.

Richard Furley, another temporary master, hired Grandy at the courthouse and issued him a pass to work for himself. Grandy obtained piecework whenever he could and paid Furley the earnings they had agreed on. Grandy provided for himself with the rest of his earnings and saved whatever he could.

“He paid seventy, eighty, or ninety dollars a year for me, and I paid him twenty or thirty dollars a year more than that,” Grandy said.

Grandy proved to be industrious and persevering. When James Grandy came of age, he continued to hire him out but demanded Moses pay twice what Furley had agreed upon.

Hired out to a man named Grice, Grandy ferried merchandise aboard canal boats from Norfolk to Elizabeth City via the Grand Canal during the War of 1812 to avoid the English blockade of the Chesapeake. He took the canal boats on shares.

It was Grice who advised Grandy to purchase his freedom from James Grandy. They agreed on a price of $600, which Grandy paid incrementally over the years. James Grandy accepted the payments and issued receipts for the funds he had been paid. When Grandy had fully paid the agreed-upon amount, James Grandy tore up all the receipts and refused to provide him with his freedom papers.

It was through the intercession of Capt. Edward Minner of Deep Creek that Grandy — after paying for his freedom twice — was finally on the threshold of liberty.

Minner gave James Grandy $650, and Grandy went back to working the canal boats. He completely repaid Minner within three years.

“When at length, I had repaid Captain Minner, and had got my freedom papers, so that my freedom was quite secure, my feelings were greatly excited,” Grandy said. “I felt so light I could almost think I could fly; in my sleep I was always dreaming of flying over woods and rivers.”

Note: The quotes attributed to Moses Grandy came directly from the second American edition of his narrative derived from the last London edition. It was published in Boston by Oliver Johnson in 1844. It was recently printed and bound — with original artwork — by the Dismal Swamp Company.