Cesar Chelor (born in
Wrentham, Massachusetts
Wrentham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,178 at the 2020 census.
History
In 1660, five men from Dedham were sent to explore the lakes near George Indian's wigwam and to report back to th ...
)
was an
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
woodworker,
toolmaker
Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing, manufacturing industries.
Tool and die makers work primarily in toolroom environments—sometimes literally in one room but more often in an environment with flexible, ...
,
plane-maker and was enslaved by the colonial entrepreneur and the earliest documented American plane maker Francis Nicholson (1683–1753). Chelor is the earliest documented African-American plane maker in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
.
Background
Chelor's exact birthdate is unknown; however, he is thought to have been born in about 1720.
He was owned by Nicholson as early as 1736. In 1741, Chelor was admitted to the Congregational Church in Wrentham Center when he was supposedly 21. Chelor would become a freeman when Nicholson died in 1753. Along with freedom, Nicholson willed Chelor a workshop, 10 acres of land, tools and materials to continue independently.
Chelor was married to ''Juda Russell'' in 1758, with whom he had shared eight children.
In 1784, Chelor died without a will with an estate inventory valued at 77 pounds 2 shillings.
References
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelor, Cesar
1720s births
1784 deaths
18th-century African-American people
18th-century American artisans
18th-century American slaves
American freedmen
People from Wrentham, Massachusetts
People from colonial Massachusetts
American woodworkers