A free man
Smith moved to Long Island. In 1769, after cutting wood and investing the money he made,[9] Smith purchased his sons, Solomon and Cuff. He earned money to purchase his sons by cutting and cording wood, of which he said he did upwards of 400 cords and threshing out 75 bushels of grain over the course of 6 months. To purchase his sons, he paid 200 dollars (each). He then purchased a black slave for 40 pounds and gave him 60 pounds but the man ran away still owing Smith 40 pounds.[1]
He hired out Solomon, his oldest son, to Charles Church for one year to be paid 12 pounds. Solomon being 17 years of age and an able body was, as dictated by Smith, "all my hope and dependence for help." During his year of employment, Church had outfitted a whaling boat and convinced the young Solomon to join and in return, he would be compensated with his normal wages and a bonus of a pair of silver buckles. When Smith caught word of the expedition he set off in an attempt to stop his son from putting out to sea, but when he arrived at Church's house he could only see the boat on the horizon. Smith would never again see his oldest son because while on the expedition, he caught scurvy and died.[1]
Soon after the death of his son Smith purchased his wife for 40 pounds. He did this expeditiously as she was then pregnant with his unborn child. If she had given birth before he was able to purchase her, he would have had to buy both his wife and his child separately. After welcoming another son, Smith named him Solomon in memory of his deceased eldest son.
Smith experienced multiple financial and personal setbacks. He bought a negro man for 400 dollars. However, he wanted to return to his old master, so Smith released him. Venture Smith purchased another negro man for 25 pounds. After his daughter, Hannah was married, she has come down with an illness. However, her husband did not pay adequate attention to her health. Although Smith nursed her, she died. In addition, two of his slaves ran away even though he paid a lot of money. In his early sixties, he was unjustly charged with the loss of a white man's property and charged for ten pounds while visiting New London. Although being absent from the scene with witnesses, he was still prosecuted. Smith then carried this matter to other courts, claiming his innocence, but the judgment was never reversed. This misleading judgment was made out of discrimination against black people. Remembering this experience, he said: "Captain Hart was a white gentleman, and I a poor African, therefore it was all right, and good enough for the black dog.[11] "
In 1775, Smith bought a farm at Haddam Neck, on the Salmon River, in Connecticut. By 1778 he had expanded the initial 10 acres to form a farm of at least 130 acres. Additionally, he made a living by fishing, whaling, farming his land, and trading in the Long Island basin. He lived the remainder of his life at Haddam Neck.[1]
In 1798, Smith dictated his life experiences and with his family had it printed by The Bee, in New London, CT. By this time Venture was showing the signs of his old age: his strong, tall body was bowed and he was going blind.[9] The narrative has been the subject of some contention, regarded in many instances as "whitewashed" and inauthentic. It was suspected that the white editor manipulated Smith's story, a common practice among editors of slave narratives. After four conferences and numerous scholarly papers, it is the conclusion of most scholars and the Documenting Venture Smith Project that the Narrative is entirely Venture Smith's own words. The work is titled A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America.[
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