Cyrus Bustill
BornFebruary 2, 1732
Springfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Died1806 (aged 73–74)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeEden Cemetery, Collingdale, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationBrewer
Known forAbolitionist work in the United States
Notable workFounding member of the Free African Society in Philadelphia
RelativesBustill family

Cyrus Bustill (February 2, 1732 – 1806) was an African American brewer and baker, abolitionist and community leader.[1]

A notable business owner in the African American community in Philadelphia, he also became a founding member of the Free African Society in the city.

Background

Born in Burlington, New Jersey, on February 2, 1732, Cyrus Bustill was the son of Quaker lawyer Samuel Bustill and Parthenia, a woman of African descent whom Samuel enslaved. After Samuel Bustill died in 1742, his widow, Grace Bustill, arranged for the sale of Cyrus Bustill to fellow Quaker Thomas Prior (or "Pryor") with the understanding that Prior would allow Cyrus to train and earn enough money as an apprentice baker to purchase his freedom.[2][3]

While some sources indicate that Cyrus Bustill used his apprenticeship wages to purchase his freedom in 1774,[2] others state that Prior liberated Cyrus by manumission in 1769, which would have likely made Cyrus one of the 104 enslaved Africans described in records of the Burlington Quarterly Meeting of Friends as having been freed by Quakers between 1763 and 1796.[4]

By 1791, Cyrus Bustill was recorded as owning twelve acres in the black settlement of Guineatown between the Abington and Cheltenham townships in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.[5][4] He married Elizabeth Morey (1746–1827), a woman of Native American and European descent.[6] Their children include Grace Douglass, David Bowser Bustill, and Mary Bustill.

Considered the founder of the prominent Bustill family, his descendants include Paul Robeson (1898–1976), David Bustill Bowser (1820–1900) Sarah Mapps Douglass (1806–1882), Robert Douglass Jr. (1809–1887) and Gertrude Bustill Mossell (1855–1948).[7]

Cyrus Bustill died in 1806.[3] His grave is located at the Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Cyrus Bustill (1732-1806) Historical Marker", in "Explore PA History." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, retrieved online February 23, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Temple, Brian (2014). Philadelphia Quakers and the Antislavery Movement. McFarland. ISBN 9780786494071.
  3. 1 2 Bustill, Cyrus (1998). "I speak to those who are in slavery". In Foner, Philip Sheldon; Branham, Robert J. (eds.). Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787–1900. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817309060.
  4. 1 2 Scott Sr., Donald (2009). Remembering Cheltenham Township. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781625842893.
  5. ↑ Blockson, Charles L.; Fry, Ron (1977). Black Genealogy. Black Classic Press. ISBN 9780933121539.
  6. ↑ Winch, Julie (2000). The Elite of Our People: Joseph Willson's Sketches of Black Upper-Class Life in Antebellum Philadelphia. The Penn State University Press. ISBN 0271043024.
  7. ↑ "BUSTILL-Bowser-Asbury Family" (2015), Manuscript Division, Paper 24, p. 2.
  8. ↑ "Cyrus Bustill, Abolitionist born". www.aaregistry.org. AAREG. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
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