African Nova Scotians in the Age of Slavery and Abolition

Cuffy sells a 30 acre portion of her grant as a proprietor of the township of Liverpool (1764). She is identified as a midwife.

Cuffy's name is here spelled phonetically as Cuffee. Simeon Perkins in his diary gives her name as Cuffe, the common spelling in New England. We have no evidence of how or whether she was related to Paul Cuffe (1759-1817), the well-known African American merchant, sea captain, abolitionist and philanthropist. Both came from Massachusetts. The name Cuffe is derived from the African name Kofi. Paul Cuffe's father was Kofi, an Ashanti from West Africa who was captured and brought as a slave to America.

Date: 7 March 1769

Reference: Nova Scotia Archives  Queens County deed registers volume 1 page 258 (microfilm 18606)