Cleaning out his mom’s house, Boston man finds his ancestor’s freedom papers

Leanna Scachetti, WCVB

Anne Arundel County, Maryland, was once home to a man named Samuel Jones who had to carry around a piece of paper to prove he was born a free man.

It’s a piece of paper Jones might never have imagined lasting for nearly 200 years, much less remaining in the possession of his descendants in Boston in the year 2026.

Aaron Haynes discovered it for the first time in 2020, helping his mom clear out her home during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“And I opened it up and looked at it and was very confused as to what this might be,” he said. “And she said, ‘That’s your ancestor’s freedom papers.’ And I said, ‘Hold on!'”

Haynes, who hadn’t previously known about the document, was hungry to learn more. Inside a small leather pouch was a tri-folded beige document that appeared to be old. But how this document was made and how it made its way to him was unclear.

[…]

Where it led him was to a library inside American Ancestors on Newbury Street on a late January day. Originally known as the New England Historic Genealogical Society, it is the oldest genealogical society in the United States, billing itself as a national center for family history, heritage and culture.

Read more about what we can learn from these rare documents.

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