Peleg Nott (fl. late 18th century) was an African American leader who in 1780 became the Black Governor of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, an elected office that nominally presided over the state's Black community, estimated at 5,885 people at the time. Although they held little real political power, these governors were elected by fellow African Americans (both free and enslaved) according to traditional African custom, generally in accordance with their reputations for probity and influence and their owners' prestige. Born into slavery, Nott was the legal property of

Jeremiah Wadsworth Jeremiah Wadsworth (July 12, 1743 – April 30, 1804) was an American sea captain, merchant, and statesman from Hartford, Connecticut who profited from his position as a government official charged with supplying the Continental Army. He re ...

, a prominent

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

merchant, politician, commissary for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

, and the wealthiest person in Connecticut. After driving a provisions cart during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Nott was entrusted with the supervision of Wadsworth's farm in

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The C ...

. A "first-rate feller," Nott was described as "remarkable for his exact dress and military bearing" and was well known for the trust that Wadsworth placed in him. Soon after Nott's election as Black Governor, Wadsworth freed Nott and his wife and granted him property somewhere near the present-day

Wadsworth Athenaeum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

. No records exist of Nott's birth or death. According to the Oxford African American Studies Center, he "is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nott, Peleg 18th-century births 18th-century deaths Year of birth uncertain 18th-century African-American people Black Patriots Free Negroes African-American history of Connecticut People from Hartford, Connecticut