Born a free person of color in New Hampshire,Harriet was orphaned yound and bound until the age of 18 as an indentured servant.She struggled to make a living after that,
marrying twice;her only son George died at age seven in the poor house,where she had placed him while trying to survive as a widow.She
wrote one novel.Hattie later was associated with the Spiritualists church was paid on the public speaking circuit for lectures about her life,and worked as a housekeeper in a boarding house.
Born Harriet E."Hattie" Adams in Midford,New Hampshire,she was the
mixed-race daughter of Margaret Ann or (Adams) Smith a washerwoman of Irish Ancestry,and Joshua Green,an African American "Hooper of barrels."After her daddy died when Hattie was young,her
mama abandoned Hattie at the farm of Nehemiah Hayward Jr.,a well-to-
Midford farmer.As an orphan,Harriet was bound by the courts as an indentured servant to the Hayward family,a customary way for society at the time to arrange support and education for orphans.The intention was that,in exchange for labor,the orphan child would be given room,board and training in life skills,so that she could later make her way in society.
From their documentary research,the scholars P.Gabrielle Foreman & Reginald H.Pitts believe that the Hayward family were the basis of
the "Bellmont family depicted in Our Nig.(This was the family who held the young "Frado" in indentured servitude,abusing her physically and mentally from the age of six to eighteen.Gabrielle & Reginald material was incorporated in supporting sections of the 2004 edition of Our Nig.)
After the end of her indenture at the age of eighteen Hattie Adams
(as she was known then),worked as a house servant and seamstress in households in southern New Hampshire,and in central and western Massachusetts.
Harriet Thomas Wilson in Milford on October 6,1851.An escape slave,Thomas had been traveling around New England giving lectures
based on his life.He continued to lecture periodically in churches and
town squares,he told Harriet he had never been a slave and that he had created to the story to gain support from abolitionists.
Thomas abandoned Harriet soon after they married.Pregnant and ill she was sent to the Hillsborough County,New Hampshire Poor farm in
Goffstown,where her only son,George Mason Wilson,was born.His probable birth date was June 15,1852.Soon after George's birth,Thomas
reappeared and took the two away from the poor farm.He returned to
sea,where he served as a sailor,and died soon after.
The widow Harriet returned her soon to the care of the Poor Farm,where he died at the age of of seven on February 16,1860.She could not make enough money to support them both and provide for his care while she worked.
After that Harriet moved to Boston,hoping for more work opportunities.On September 29,1870 Harriet married John Gallatin Robinson in Boston.An apothecary,he was a native of Canada born in Sherbrooke,Quebec.John was of English & German ancestry;he was nearly 18 years younger than Harriet.From 1870-1877,they resided
at 46 Carver Street,after which they appear to have separated.After that date,city directories,list Harriet & John in separate lodgings in Boston's
South End.No record has been found of a divorce,but divorces were infrequent at that time.
While living in Boston Harriet wrote our Nig.On August 18,1859,she copyrighted it,and deposited a copy of the novel in the Office of the Clerk of the U.S.District Court of Massachusetts.On September 5,1859 the novel was published anonymously by George C.Rand & Avery,a publishing firm in Boston.
In 1863,Harriet Wilson appeared on the "Report of the Overseers of the Poor" for the town of Milford,Massachusetts.After 1863,she disappeared from records until 1867,when she was listed in the Boston Spiritualists newspapers,Banner of Light,as living in East Cambridge,Massachusetts.Hattie subsequently moved across the Charles River to the city of Boston,where she became known in Spiritualist circles as "the colored medium."
From 1867-1897,"Mrs.Hattie E.Wilson" was listed in the Banner of Light as a trance reader and lecturer.She was active in the local Spiritualists community,and she would give "lectures" either while entranced,or speaking normally,wherever she was wanted.Harriet spoke at camp meetings,in theatres,and in private homes throughout New England;she shared the podium with speakers such as Victoria Woodhull & Andrew Jackson Davis.In 1870 Harriet traveled as far as Chicago as a delegate to the American Association of Spiritualist Convention.She delivered lectures on labor reform,and children's education.The texts of her talks of her talks have not survived,newspapers reports imply that she often spoke about her life experiences,providing sometimes trenchant and often humorous commentary.
Closer to home,Harriet was active in the organization and maintenance
of Children's Progressive Lyceums,the Spiritualist church equivalent to Sunday Schools;she organized Christmas celebrations;she participated in skits and playlets;and at meetings she sometime sang as part of a quartet.She was also known for her floral centerpieces.and the candies she would make for the children were long remembered.Harriet worked
as a Spiritualist nurse and healer ("clairvoyant physician").
In addition,for nearly 20 years from 1879-1897,she was the housekeeper of a boardinghouse in a two-story dwelling at 15 Village Street (near the present corner of Dove [now East Berkley Street] and Tremont Streets in the South End.) Hattie rented out rooms,collected rents and provided basic maintenance.
In Harriet active and fruitful life after Our Nig,there is no evidence that she wrote anything elsepblication.
Hattie died in Quincy Hospital in Quincy Massachusetts.She buried in the Cobb family plot in that town's Mount Wollaston Cemetery.Her plot number is listed as 1337,"old section."
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