HAMPTON — The life of Dinah Small Burdoo, believed to be the last formerly enslaved person to live in Hampton, was honored on July 12, with a Black Heritage Trail marker newly established on the grounds of the town library.
About two years in the making, the memorial is the collaborative effort of the Portsmouth-based Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, Hampton’s Heritage Commission and the Friends of the Lane Memorial Library, according to Christine Bushway, co-chairwoman of the town’s Heritage Commission. The three organizations shared the work, research and financing required to establish this record of Hampton history.
Rev. Robert Thompson of Bethel AME Church in Lowell, Massachusetts—also representing Sovereign Souls Fellowship and serving as Board President of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire—speaks during the unveiling of the historic marker honoring Dinah Small Burdoo in Hampton on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
The marker itself, ensconced permanently on a large boulder from the historic 18th-century Hampton home of Heritage Commission Co-Chair Ann Caraby, tells Burdoo’s tale. It’s located on the front lawn at 2 Academy Ave., the address of Lane Memorial Library. It was revealed at a ceremony on Saturday afternoon, July 12.
According to the marker, Dinah Small Burdoo, 1733 to 1825, was one of the last surviving previously enslaved people living in Hampton. She was first married in 1777 to Caesar Small, who served and died in the Revolutionary War. Burdoo would remarry in 1783 to Philip Burdoo, who worked at Hampton’s Dearborn’s Tavern. He died in 1806.
Mitzi Prout, Karen Prior, April S. Jackson, Tanisha Johnson and Rev. Robert Thompson stand beside the newly unveiled Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire marker honoring Dinah Small Burdoo in Hampton.
In her declining years, according to the marker, Burdoo was cared for in the home of Deacon John Lamprey with town funds. She died at the age of 92.
“Esteemed for her great age and wisdom, a note in the Hampton Church record observed that she retained her powers of body and mind most perfectly,” according to her marker.
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Why Dinah Small Burdoo is being honored now
According to Bushway, Burdoo came to the attention of the Heritage Commission initially through the 2016 book written by the Reverend Deborah Knowlton of the Hampton Congregational Church. The book is titled “Color Me Included: African Americans of Hampton’s First Church and Its Descendant Parishes 1670-1826.”
The information in the book was interesting, Bushway said, because many today don’t realize there were enslaved people living in Hampton.
The historic marker honoring Dinah Small Burdoo was unveiled in Hampton on Saturday, July 12, 2025. The marker, located on the lawn of Lane Memorial Library, was dedicated in partnership with the Black Heritage Trail of NH and the Hampton Heritage Commission.
Although the first African captives were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, New Hampshire saw its first enslaved individuals arrive in 1649, according to the Black Heritage Trail.
Colonial Portsmouth played a notable role in the slave trade, serving as a port of arrival for Africans who had been forcibly taken from their homeland—many en route to other American colonies. Unlike the South, where slavery was deeply embedded in the agricultural economy, New England— and New Hampshire in particular—relied on enslaved labor in smaller numbers, primarily within households and trades, often involving specialized skills.
Hampton Heritage Commission members Carleigh Beriont, Ann Carnaby, Christine Bushway and Katherine Harake attend the unveiling of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire marker honoring Dinah Small Burdoo.
The historical entryway and presence of enslaved Africans in Portsmouth may underlie the founding of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire by Valerie Cunningham, though it was originally named the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail.
Since its founding, according to Black Heritage Trail program assistant Dariya Steele, the organization has established more than 40 historic markers throughout the Granite State, with 25 of them in Portsmouth, marking the city’s role in this portion of state history.
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Hampton cared for Dinah Burdoo in her final years
Another interesting tidbit in Dinah Burdoo’s records is the part Colonial Hampton played as she aged, according to Bushway.
“Back then, there was a Hampton ordinance or something similar that people widowed or with no income would be provided for by the town,” Bushway said. “And (Burdoo) was provided for by the town until she died.”
That fact is recorded in “History of the Town of Hampton: from its first settlement in 1638 to the autumn of 1892” written by Joseph Dow.
In 1809, according to Dow’s book, a committee was formed to consider how to accommodate members of the Hampton community who were poor, including Dinah Burdoo. Given her age, Dow wrote, the committee decided it would be better for her to stay with a family, “where she can be taken proper care of till spring. Mr. Josiah Dearborn has offered to take her at four shillings per week. She has been at Mr. Dearborn’s house about a fortnight.”
In his book, Dow describes Burdoo as the widow of Philip Burdoo, and “among the last of the old-time negroes in this town,” one of the statements that signified she was enslaved and freed, according to Steele, although the exact date of Burdoo’s emancipation is not known.
Dow’s record continues to discuss Dinah’s first husband, Caesar, “who died from exposure in the army in 1777.” She remarried January 9, 1783, to Philip Burdoo, of Moultonborough, who was employed at Dearborn’s Tavern, according to Dow.
Lane Memorial Library Director Amanda Cooper and her staff pose in front of the new Black Heritage Trail NH marker on the grounds of the Lane Memorial Library.
He wrote that it was “asserted that they were slaves of Gen. Jonathan Moulton, which may have been true of Philip, who came from one of the townships granted to the General; but Dinah, certainly, was a slave of William Godfrey, of North Hampton, whose granddaughter, Mrs. Fanny Lane, now above ninety years of age, knows of her service there.”
Following her second husband’s death in 1806, Dow wrote that Dinah lived in a small home “a few rods east” of the Centre School, “where she spun and knit and lived contentedly.” As she grew older, she was cared for by the town and passed away on January 11, 1825, at the age of 92.
Preserving the past to heal the future
The facts of Dinah Small Burdoo’s life illustrate a part of the important 300-year-old record of African people and their descendants in New Hampshire. According to Steele, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire hopes to promote this information with its markers and programs.
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire strives to advance the awareness of African Americans’ long history and life in the Granite State to foster a more inclusive society, according to Steele, who added the organization’s goal is to have a Black Heritage Trail marker in every New Hampshire community.
“We believe that if we could embrace our shared history, we could heal racial anxiety and misunderstanding — in our communities, our state and in this country,” according to the organization’s mission statement.
April S. Jackson, member of the board of directors for the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, speaks about the organization’s mission during the unveiling of the historic marker honoring Dinah Small Burdoo on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire accepts applications and verifies information for community markers and assists with the related financing. Those interested in this program, Trail tours and events may reach out to the organization at its website blackheritagetrailnh.org, or by calling 603-570-8469. Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton honors its last known enslaved resident with historic marker
