A “Negro boy named Adam,” was purchased by Daniel Tidd of Lexington from John Wood of Woburn, on March 23, 1752. Adam was between 3 and 6 years old.
By 1775, William Tidd, Daniel’s son, was Adam’s enslaver. Adam lived in the Tidd homestead near the intersection of Revere Street and Hancock Street.
Lieutenant William Tidd was the second highest ranking officer in Captain Parker’s Company when he fought on the Green on April 19, 17775. Lt. Tidd was one of several members of the Lexington Militia who began the American Revolutionary War, fighting for freedom while holding others as slaves.
By March 1776, Private Adam Tidd had enlisted and served in the Continental Army until he was discharged in December 1778.
Adam Tidd was in his thirties when he left military service. Like many Black soldiers, he may have been manumitted by William Tidd as a result of his service, but could have also gained his freedom when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts in 1783.
On March 21, 1785, Adam Tidd married Huldah Wallis in Brookline, MA. They had at least two sons and two daughters.
Adam Tidd died in Boston on March 5, 1817. His age was given as 71, and he was buried in Boston’s South End Burial Ground.
Adam and Huldah Tidd’s son, Porter, was baptized in Boston’s New North Church on April 23, 1786. Porter became a well-known cotillion band director. The cotillion was a more courtly form of a square dance and was very popular in both Europe and The United States in the 18th century.
Porter worked and advertised throughout the Boston area and in 1821, was one of just seven Black voters in Boston listed in that year’s Boston taxpayers publication.
After over 20 years as a cotillion band director, Porter Tidd died in November 1833. The story of his death and that his last words were calling out directions to the dancers was reported in the Boston press and picked up in papers in Maine, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Read about more Black residents of Lexington here.
Information provided by Sean Osborne
