In the spring of 1771, Jerusha Boylston Fitch’s daughter, also named Jerusha, was getting married. Her new husband was the Reverend Jonas Meriam of the First Church of Newton, who invited his new mother-in-law to move in with the couple. Pamela, who accompanied her enslaver to their new home, would have been responsible for carrying out all of Jerusha Boylston Fitch’s orders about what and how to pack, while also doing the cooking, sewing, and cleaning for the wedding. That was a lot of work for a girl of about 10 years old.
Life in the Newton parsonage was different. The Rev. Meriam had two children from his previous marriage. One of them was a girl, Mehetable, about Pamela’s age. The girls would have played together and done some of the household chores together, but Jerusha Boylston Fitch always made sure Pamela remembered she was not free. Years later, Mehetable told her children how badly the widow beat Pamela during their time in the parsonage. Indeed, her enslaver’s anger and resentment likely grew worse with the move to Newton, which took Jerusha Boylston Fitch further out of Boston society and into a home where she was no longer the mistress of the house.
At some point in the next few years, the widow moved out of the parsonage, leaving Pamela behind. Despite the departure of her tormentor, Pamela was still not free. Before leaving Newton, Jerusha Boylston Fitch gave Pamela to her daughter, Jerusha Fitch Meriam. Pamela was still enslaved, so she was still expected to do the same cooking, cleaning, laundry, processing food, and running errands as before. And when her new enslaver took ill, it would have been Pamela’s responsibility to nurse her, too: administering medicine, running to fetch the doctor when he was needed, changing linens and chamber pots, and delivering food to her bed chamber.
A Rare Will
In the 1700s, married women were not typically allowed to have property separate from their husbands. But the Rev. Meriam signed a prenuptial agreement before marrying his second wife, recognizing Jerusha Fitch Meriam’s property as separate. This meant that she could write her own will, disposing of her property as she saw fit. It also meant that if her husband had died before she did, Jerusha Meriam would not have been at risk of seeing the household divided between his children with nothing left for her — the fate her mother had suffered.
Right: Excerpts from Jerusha Fitch Meriam's will. Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991 via Ancestry.com.
Jerusha Fitch Meriam died in January of 1776, but her death did not bring freedom for Pamela. Mrs. Meriam’s will, made out the previous year, bequeathed Pamela to her husband. Pamela’s enslavement in the Newton parsonage would continue, and when the Rev. Meriam remarried the next year, Pamela would again have done the cooking, cleaning, and sewing to prepare. She was there, too, when the Rev. Meriam’s son Nathaniel died in 1777, maintaining the household through the family’s mourning.