A rather scarce biography of the fugitive slave Janitor of Trinity College [Hartford, CT] James Williams, who was known during his near 50 years of service as "Professor Jim."

Williams was born into slavery on August 3, 1788. His mother was a French Creole woman enslaved by Colonel John F. Robert in Yonkers, New York. James’ father, freed from slavery, visited from nearby stone quarries where he worked. According to the 1800 census, Robert held nine enslaved people at his estate, triple the number most of his neighbors held captive. In 1804, Col. Robert died and willed James to his daughter, who lived in New York City. About a year into this enslavement, Williams found an opportunity to escape when Miss Robert sent him to work at a grocery store on Broadway. As shoppers moved in and out, Williams slipped away with a bundle of clothes and enough money to board a steamer.

This began a transitory period of Williams’ life during which he crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean on any ship that accepted his labor. He was at sea during the War of 1812, serving on the USS Hornet. Williams was a captive twice more in his life, first on a British sloop of war and second on a pirate ship called the True-blooded Yankee, before escaping. Eventually Williams came to Portland, Connecticut, and found employment at the stone quarries there for two years. He then worked as a servant, gardener, and hostler in Middleton and then as a waiter in Hartford’s City Hotel before Bishop Thomas Brownell hired Williams as a servant.

Proctor, C. H. The Life of James Williams, Better Known as Professor Jim, for Half a Century Janitor of Trinity College. By C. H. Proctor, a Member of the Class of '73. Hartford. Case, Lockwood & Brainard, Printers. 1873. 79pp.

A good + copy, bound in cloth, lightly shaken, with light foxing, and ex library markings on the pastedown.