Most of our information about slaves is derived from their interaction with church and government and the recording of those interactions--such as births, deaths, marriages--in various official documents. The Family Book for Fairfield First Church records the marriage in 1736 of two slaves belonging to John Read of Redding as well as the births and one death of their nine children.

Image: Family Book No. 1, Fairfield First Church, Town of Fairfield, 1696-1855. Courtesy Connecticut State Library, State Archives, Hartford, Connecticut.