Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

Nov. 24th. At Yeadon, Betsy Sawyer, who, for eighteen years, had been a member of the Methodist society. She was brought to a saving knowledge of the Gospel, when a slave, in the island of Grenada, West Indies, and was shortly afterwards received into the family of the missionary there, as a domestic servant. Her Christian course was marked with great sincerity and devotedness, while her outward conduct was such as to secure the confidence and affection of the family with which she resided, and the esteem of all who knew her. Her last illness was short; but death found her ready for her change. She expressed her entire trust in the Lord Jesus, and then peacefully breathed her spirit into his hands. T.M.

Comment

Comment

Betsy had presumably cared for little Sarah, who died eight months after her. A transcription of the memorial stone:

To the memory of Betsy Sawyer, born a slave in the island of Antigua, West Indies, who through missionary labour was brought to the knowledge and enjoyment of true religion, and obtained her freedom, while residing in the family of the Rev. T Murray, in whose service she lived beloved and respected for 16 years. She departed this life on November 24th 1839 aged 65 years, in the faith and hope of the Gospel. As a mark of affection for her memory, this stone was erected at the expense of her friends in the Methodist Society of this town.

Also of Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Thomas and Ann Murray, who departed this life August 1st 1840 aged 3 years and 4 months.

A tentative timeline of the circumstances of Betsy Sawyer’s life, including material from Thomas Murray’s obituary (Mason 1862):

• 1773-4: Betsy Sawyer born on Antigua (stone). Presumably employed in domestic service and transferred to Grenada (350 miles) by a family with estates on both islands
• 1796: Thomas Murray born in South Shields (TM obit)
• 1821: Sawyer joins the Methodists on Grenada, shortly afterwards acquired and kept as a slave (!) by a local missionary (BS obit), perhaps Murray in his roving capacity in 1822
• 1822: Thomas Murray marries Harriet [surname], enters the ministry, and is sent to the Caribbean, where he remains 12 years (TM obit, Ancestry)
• 1823: Sawyer acquired and freed, perhaps simultaneously, for employment by Thomas Murray (stone), presumably in expectation of Murray children, and perhaps there was a small tragedy between now and 1826
• 1826: birth of Harriet Murray, first known living child
• 1828: Harriet, mother of Harriet, dies in childbirth (Methodist Mission magazine (1841))
• 1830: second child, Margaret Murray, born, presumably to a second Mrs. Murray, followed in 1832, 1833 and 1835 by additional daughters (Ancestry); Murray becomes resident minister at Port Royal, Kingston, Jamaica
• 1831: Great Jamaican Slave Revolt, followed by mass executions of slaves, as well as assaults on Methodists and other abolitionists, including brief imprisonment for Murray in 1833
• 1834: Murray, family and Sawyer sail to England, where Murray preaches on the circuits for 20 years, terminating in 1854 (TM obit)
• 1835: preaches at Barnard Castle (Ancestry)
• 1837: speaks at Eastbrook Chapel, Bradford
• 1839: Sawyer dies at Yeadon (stone, BS obit)
• 1854: Murray retires to Tunbridge Wells (TM obit)
• 1857. Murray dies (TM obit)

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Original

Nov. 24th. At Yeadon, Betsy Sawyer, who, for eighteen years, had been a member of the Methodist society. She was brought to a saving knowledge of the Gospel, when a slave, in the island of Grenada, West Indies, and was shortly afterwards received into the family of the missionary there, as a domestic servant. Her Christian course was marked with great sincerity and devotedness, while her outward conduct was such as to secure the confidence and affection of the family with which she resided, and the esteem of all who knew her. Her last illness was short; but death found her ready for her change. She expressed her entire trust in the Lord Jesus, and then peacefully breathed her spirit into his hands. T.M.

127 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Abolitionism in the United Kingdom (7), movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to end slavery in the United Kingdom, the British Empire and elsewhere ·
• Antigua (1) ·
• Baptists (3) ·
• Colony of Jamaica (2) ·
• Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831–32 (1), an eleven-day rebellion that commenced on Christmas Day, 1831: led by a black Baptist deacon, Samuel Sharpe, and waged largely by his followers, it involved up to 60,000 of the 300,000 slaves in the Colony of Jamaica ·
• Grenada (3) ·
• Jamaica (2) ·
• Manumission (2) ·
• Methodism (38) ·
• Slavery (20) ·
• Wesleyan Methodist Magazine (3) ·
• West Indies (8) ·
• 📌Yeadon, West Riding/West Yorkshire (7), town on the north bank of the Aire northwest of Leeds ·

All tags.

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