John Jack was a former slave of Benjamin Barron.
After Barron's death in 1754, Jack earned enough
money to buy his freedom. He asked lawyer Daniel
Bliss to draw up a will and Bliss subsequently
composed an epitaph that reads:
God wills us free; man wills us slaves.
I will as God wills; God's will be done.
Here lies the body of
JOHN JACK,
a native of Africa, who died
March 1773 aged about 60 years
Tho' born in a land of slavery,
He was born free.
Tho' he lived in a land of liberty,
He lived a slave.
Till by his honest, tho' stolen labors,
He acquired the source of slavery,
Which gave him his freedom;
Tho' not long before,
Death, the grand tyrant,
Gave him his final emancipation,
And set him on a footing with kings.
Tho' a slave to vice,
He practised those virtues
Without which kings are but slaves.
After Barron's death in 1754, Jack earned enough
money to buy his freedom. He asked lawyer Daniel
Bliss to draw up a will and Bliss subsequently
composed an epitaph that reads:
God wills us free; man wills us slaves.
I will as God wills; God's will be done.
Here lies the body of
JOHN JACK,
a native of Africa, who died
March 1773 aged about 60 years
Tho' born in a land of slavery,
He was born free.
Tho' he lived in a land of liberty,
He lived a slave.
Till by his honest, tho' stolen labors,
He acquired the source of slavery,
Which gave him his freedom;
Tho' not long before,
Death, the grand tyrant,
Gave him his final emancipation,
And set him on a footing with kings.
Tho' a slave to vice,
He practised those virtues
Without which kings are but slaves.
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Grave of former slave
John Jack
John Jack
