Singleton, Benjamin (15 August 1809–1892), black nationalist and land promoter, known as “Pap,” was born into slavery in Nashville, Tennessee. Little is known about the first six decades of his life. In his old age Singleton reminisced that his master had sold him to buyers as far away as Alabama and Mississippi several times, but that each time he had escaped and returned to Nashville. Tiring of this treatment, he ran away to Windsor, Ontario, and shortly thereafter moved to Detroit. There he quietly opened a boardinghouse for escaped slaves and supported himself by scavenging. In 1865 he came home to Edgefield, Tennessee, across the Cumberland River from Nashville, and supported himself as a cabinetmaker and carpenter....
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Singleton, Benjamin (1809-1892), black nationalist and land promoter
Stephen W. Angell
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Smith, John (1580-1631), colonial governor, promoter, and historian
Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Smith, John (1580–21 June 1631), colonial governor, promoter, and historian, was born in Willoughby by Alford in Lincolnshire, the son of George Smith, a yeoman, and Alice Rickard. His earliest schooling may have been under Francis Marbury, father of Anne Hutchinson, who was schoolmaster in Alford. Toward the end of his life Smith published an autobiography, one of the first examples of the modern genre, which he titled ...
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Smith, John (1580-1631)
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John Smith. Illustration from The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine John Smith, 1629, depicting Smith's 1607 capture. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-99524).
