Jones, Sophy ("Aunt Sophy"), 1896

This file folder contains one original newspaper clipping (in three physical parts) accompanied by one photocopy reproduction on two sheets. In manuscript pencil on reproduction: “Hanover Gazette 11/20/1896.” Biographical summary of Sophy Jones, her home, and the neighborhood near the Town of Hanover, New Hampshire written upon the occasion of the demolition of her house. The information itself based on “a New York paper” published “about twelve years ago” written by Mrs. O. P. Hubbard.

Sophy Jones (known as "Aunt Sophy") was born on a plantation in Maryland. She married and had six children. Details are provided of Jones and her families’ lives as enslaved people and then eventually how she came to own a home in Hanover and her life in Hanover. She died in 1878 and is buried “near the entrance to the old cemetery.”

Presented in a newspaper reporting style, the article documents in detail the violent and dehumanizing aspects of racist practices of the time. The article includes both archaic terms and racial slurs in reference to Black people as well as some instances of racists attitudes, e.g. “her parents appear to have been superior to the average of their race as both attained their freedom.”