Enslaved Life

Bristow was born in 1731 and was believed to have a home in Ghana, Africa. In his early life, he was captured from his home and transported to the West Division through the middle passage where he was enslaved with another man named Ambo by Thomas Hart Hooker and Sarah Hooker. Throughout his life as a slave, it is likely that he spent his time churning butter, milking cows, turning logs into boards, and cutting down trees. While he was still enslaved, he went to Upstate New York and Canada to serve under Col. Phineas Lyman in the French and Indian war. Shortly after he returned from the war, his enslaver left to fight in the revolutionary war, allowing Bristow the chance to buy his freedom. Finally in 1775, after many years of enslavement, Bristow was free.