In 1796, the first Chinese person documented to have lived in Boston was Chou, a teenager who worked for a local sea captain. Much of that story is known to many and the sea captain is often considered to be a kind and compassionate person. However, there is a dark twist to this story which is known to very few.
John Boit, of Boston, was made the Captain of a ship, the Union, when he was only 19 years old. The Union, with a crew of 22, set sail on August 1, 1794, headed to the Northwest, to obtain pelts and other trade goods, and then onto China. After a successful journey, the Union returned to Boston in July 1796. While in China, Boit hired a Chinese servant, called Chou, who was about 15 or 16 years old, and took him back to Boston with him. Chou likely lived with Boit, especially considering they were only in Boston for a month before departing on another voyage.
Boit was given the command of another ship, the Snow George, which departed, with Chou aboard, in August 1796 to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. The ship arrived in March 1797, and was later sold in May 1797, after which Boit decided to spend some vacation time in Mauritius. According to The Boit Family And Their Descendants by Robert Althorp Boit (1915), John Boit wrote, “Took a house on shore, attended by my faithful servant Chou (a Chinese)—kept Bachelor’s hall—and in the gay life that is generally pursued by young men on this island passed a few months away in quite an agreeable though dissipated manner.”
Boit returned to Boston sometime during the summer of 1798, and again, it is very likely that Chou lived with Boit at that point, especially as it would only be for a short time before tragedy took Chou. On September 11, 1798, Chou fell from the masthead of the ship Mac of Boston, though details of this accident are scant. Boit took an extraordinary step at this point, having Chou interred in the Central Burying Ground in Boston, and erecting a tombstone for him.
The epitaph read, “Here lies interred the body of Chou Mandarien. A native of China. Aged 19 years whose death was occasioned on the 11th Sept. 1798 by a fall from the masthead of the Ship Mac of Boston. This stone is erected to his memory by his affectionate master John Boit, Jr.” In the epitaph, the term “Mandarien” is not intended to be a surname, but simply a term at that time meaning “Chinese.” You can still visit this cemetery and view his tombstone.
Though the burial and tombstone may create the impression that John Boit was an empathetic person, there is a darker side to this story which most sources writing about this matter omit.
At the time of Chou’s death, it appears that Boit was preparing the Mac of Boston to illegally engage in the African slave trade, and if Chou had lived, he would have accompanied Boit on this expedition. The Lancaster Intelligencer (PA), September 25, 1799, reported that the Mac of Boston was condemned in the District Court of Maine for a “breach of the laws of the United States against the slave trade.”
The ship apparently left Boston in November 1798, two months after the death of Chou, and allegedly was headed to Cape de Verde but Captain Boit had different plans in mind, desirous of going to Africa to purchase slaves. The crew was unaware of his plans until several weeks into the journey. Boit eventually acquired 270 slaves, male and female, and sailed to Havana, Cuba, where he sold the 220 slaves which survived the trip, 50 Africans having died en route.
The newspaper stated, “The record of these facts, will remain an eternal monument of disgrace to mankind. A savage, who had not abjured both nature and its God, would shrink with horror at this complicated tale of crime and misery. What then shall we say of a Christian, a Bostonian, who accumulates his wealth by this nefarious and infernal traffick.” Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find out the results of this court case though it does not seem likely Boit received any significant punishment as he continued to captain other ships.
For example, The Boit Family And Their Descendantsby Robert Althorp Boit (1915) noted that Boit was married in August 1799, and “During the first years of marriage, Boit’s wife, Eleanor, lived in Newport while he was at sea; later they moved to Jamaica Plain and then Boston.” In addition, Boit made voyages on the Mount Hope from Newport, Rhode Island, to the East Indies and back in 1801-02 and 1805-06. It seems likely that if he was convicted, any punishment he received was relatively minor.
As far as we are aware, John Boit treated Chou well, but that does not absolve him of his crimes of engaging in illegal slavery. It is also unfortunate that Chou died so young as who knows what he might have accomplished as an adult. You can visit the Central Burying Ground, see Chou’s tombstone, and honor this pioneering young Chinese person, taken from the world far too soon.
To read this article in Chinese (Traditional), please click here.
