Quanimo Buccau

Quanimo Buccau (went by many names when he was younger. Depending on his current master, he would go by names like Buccau, Smock, and sometimes Griffith. Quanimo was born a slave in Brunswick New Jersey in March of 1762. When he was nine years old, he was hired by a man named Schenk, who employed him as a house servant. Soon afterwards, Schnek moved and took Quanimo with him to Poughkeepsie, where he stayed for many more years.

Growing up

As he grew into manhood,he regularly attended religious meetings. Every Sunday, he would walk miles in any kind of weather. When asked why, his reply was “I liked to have the name of being a good boy.”

Marriage

About the age of 26, Quanimo married woman named Sarah, a slave in a neighboring house. As years went on, they had two children, and Sarah and the youngest child ended up being sold, leaving their four year old son behind.. Quanimo convinced his master to help get them back into the neighborhood, for it was the only way he could see her often.

A New Beginning

Years later, his master died, and he and his siblings were all given the choice of which of his late master’s children they would serve. Quanimo chose the eldest son, because he liked him the best. He soon found out how harsh and cruel his choice actually was, because when he was brave enough to ask his master if he would write Quanimo’s freedom into his master’s will, he was severely beaten and wounded. His feelings were badly hurt, and from then on, the slave served his master in silence.

Freedom

When Quanimo Buccau was about 44, he was emancipated. After he was freed, he went back to visit some old friends in Brunswick New Jersey. They asked him if he was happier now that he was free. all he said was, “I dont know much about freedom, but I wouldn’t be the slave ag’in, not if you’d give me the best farm in the jarsies.”

Later life

He lived a happy life, taking what he could get and indulging in what little pleasures he had in his life. Things changed, however, when his wife Sarah died in 1842. Sarah was considered to be a woman of piety and worth by all that knew her well. He friends and family had a funeral for her, and since her husband was, as of recent, too crippled and feeble to follow in the funeral train, he cried in the doorstep, praying for his wife and saying his final farewells. He was now in a forlorn situation, living by himself and quite incapable of doing so. He was going blind and had been having troubles with his leg for years now. However, an arrangement had been made for Quanimo that he had no knowledge of until several days after his wife’s passing. Neighbors and friends alike created a schedule to bring him food three times a day, and indeed this routine was well kept for a good eight years. His son William would visit every night and morning to assist Quanimo in preparing for bed, or waking up and getting dressed. Summer of 1849 came and went, and Quanimo was diagnosed with cholera. He was not well for a long time, but he was a happy man. Later in the year of 1849, he commented, “ It is a great thing to have religion. it is good in sickness, and it is good in health. It sometimes appears to me, as i sit her and meditate on it, like a man in debt. If he feels that he has the means to pay his debt, he longs to see de man. If he is unable to pay, he don’t want to see him. If my feelings don’t deceive me, I want to meet my redeemer.” Quanimo then went on to comment about his blindness; “The lord tells us, he is the light and life. He gave me a little knowledge, before he took my sight from me. He commented on his overall contentment by saying “What better t’ing can the lord put into our hearts, than to have love to one another!”

Quanimo never attended school, so he was illiterate and sometime has a hard time finding ways to say all the thoughts he was thinking. “Oh, if only I could find words to express my feelings,” He would say, “that I have when I am alone--and yet I don’t feel that I am alone either.”

A month went by and Quanimo was not doing so well. He would say that even in his situation seemed grim, he could not wish to be better. He felt so “composed and peaceful.” Quanimo’s religious beliefs remained with him until he died on November 11, 1850 at the age of 88. The doctor that arrived promptly during Quanimo’s passing concluded his heart had failed him and that he had died peacefully.