Ebenezer Wilson, Mayor 1707-1710: Wilson (c.1650-?) was a merchant who traded agricultural products with the West Indies.[1] In the New York census of c.1703, Wilson is listed as having two enslaved people in his household in New York City: one adult male and one adult female.[2]

In September 1717, there is a petition from a free man to Governor Robert Hunter stating that Wilson detained an enslaved man. From a summary:

Sept. 5. Petition. Sam, late negro slave of George Norton, deceased, complaining that Ebenezer Wilson detains money and a negro willed to him by said Norton, yet requires the petitioner to clothe said slave and support him in sickness.[3]

In George Norton’s will of May 1, 1715, he names Capt. Ebenezer Wilson the sole executor and trustee of his will. Norton gives Sam his freedom and wills him another enslaved man, Robin, and thirty pounds.[4] Wilson kept Robin and the money. In September 1717, Sam petitioned the governor because Wilson “detains money and a negro willed to him by said Norton, yet requires the petitioner to clothe said slave and support him in sickness.”[5]

[1] Merchants & Empire, p.222

[2] Northeast Slavery Records Index; Conway, Rosanne: Lists of Inhabitants of Colonial New York, p.22, East Ward

[3] Calendar of historical manuscripts in the office of the secretary of state, Albany, N.Y., New York Secretary of State, E.B. O’Callaghan, Vol. II, p.433

[4] New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999, George Norton, Will Date 1 May 1715, Wills, Vol 008, 1710-1716, Ancestry.com

[5] Calendar of historical manuscripts in the office of the secretary of state, Albany, N.Y., New York Secretary of State, E.B. O’Callaghan, Vol. II, p.433; New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999, George Norton, Will Date 1 May 1715, Wills, Vol 008, 1710-1716, Ancestry.com

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine