Our next stop was Portsmouth The cloud was lifting and so we wandered along the Port, stumbling on a an elegant 18th-century mansion and garden built by William Whipple.
I'm amazed that this hasn't been made into some kind of TV Drama... First guy, William Whipple makes his money from slavery and trade. Calls his servant Prince Whipple and together they go off to Washington to sign the American Declaration of Independence.
This inspires Prince Whipple and another slave Windsor Moffat "natives of Africa now forcibly detained in slavery" to petition for their freedom. The New Hampshire legislature were amused by this petition but needless to say did not grant them their freedom.
The Whipple -Moffat family then went down the path of many others of their ilk with family rifts, alcoholism, gambling the inevitable court cases... until finally the property was sold to the Ladd family for $1..... Told you it was a good TV drama!
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