Thaddeus & Mary Newton
Grave of Thaddeus and Mary Newton - Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven, CT
1833, in New Bern, NC, a free black woman named Mary Heritage married her love, an enslaved man named Thaddeus Newton. Thaddeus was enslaved by Peter and Catherine Custis, relatives of Robert E. Lee. The couple would have kids, but because Thaddeus was enslaved, Mary would have to make her own way, listed in the 1840 census as owning her own home.
In the 1850's, Mary moved her family to New York, leaving her husband Thaddeus and son Alexander behind. Mary found her way to abolitionists, most notably Henry Ward Beecher, the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who helped her raise money towards buying her husbands freedom. Her son Alexander, who was working in abolitionism in North Carolina, would eventually find his way to New York.
The family moved to New Haven, CT, buying their own home. Determined to support black freedom, Mary's son Alexander Newton stayed in New York, joining the 13th New York Regiment. His brother Steven Newton felt the same, joining the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment, made famous in the movie "Glory." Three months after enlisting, Steven Newton died in the assault on Fort Wagner.
In July 1863, Alexander Newton would be chased out of New York by rioters during the draft riots, rejoining his family in New Haven, potentially finding out about his brothers death for the first time. Soon after, Alexander joined the Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment.
Thaddeus Newton, the formerly enslaved man whose sons both fought for freedom, would die in 1868. After enduring severe burns, Mary Heritage Newton died at 90 years old in 1904, in the same New Haven home she bought in 1860. Both Thaddeus and Mary are buried together at Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, CT.
An enslaved man, his abolitionist wife, enduring love and hero sons. An American love story that needs to be told.
