Just inside the entrance to the Davis Farm on Greehaven Road is a large boulder inscribed with the words "Venture Store". It is a memorial to an African-American who toiled as a slave on what was then the Stanton Farm in the mid-1700's. Legend has it that Venture, born in Africa the son of a prince of a tribe in Guinea and sold into slavery at age six, could pick up that rock and carry it for several yards. In the 19th century, the rock was weighed at 442 pounds. But more important than his prodigious size and strength, through sheer persistence and hard work, Venture became the personification of the American Dream. In 1798 when he was 69, Venture, who could neither read nor write, related his life story to a school teacher Elisha Niles. It was a published work widely read then - and now - as a chronicle of slavery in New England. As Venture told it, his father was killed by another tribe who marched Venture and other captives to the sea. "All the march I had very hard tasks imposed on me. I was obliged to carry on my head a large flat stone used for grinding our corn, weighing as much as 25 pounds, besides victuals and cooking utensils. Though I was pretty large and stout for my age, yet these burdens were very grievous to me, being only six-years-and-a-half old." He was then put on board a vessel belonging to Rhode Island and was bought by Robert Mumford, a boat steward, for four gallons of rum and a piece of calico. Mumford named the child Venture because he had purchased him with his own private venture. The 6-year-old was then sold to another member of the Mumford family who took him to Fishers Island to live. For the first couple of years, he was kept busy with household tasks, but as he grew older, he was put to work outdoors, and the work became harder with more rigorous punishment for failure. At 22, after 13 years on Fishers Island, he married Meg, another slave. At that time he began to be restless and resentful of his position and made plans with others to run away. After his plan was discovered, he was sold to Thomas Stanton of Stonington who lived on the farm that today belongs to the Davises. Probably it was his great size and strength that made him to valuable to harm in any way. The arrangement seemed to work for a while. After the first year, Stanton purchased Meg and their infant daughter and the family was reunited. Probably it was during this time that his great feats of strength, including carrying Venture's Rock to put in a stone wall were accomplished But sometime later the troubles began with the Stantons. As Venture told it, "I had a falling out with my mistress. This happened one time when my master was gone (hunting). At first the quarrel began between my wife and her mistress. Hearing a racket in the house, I ran (inside) and found my mistress in a violent passion with my wife. I requested my wife to beg pardon of her mistress. But whilst I was thus saying, my mistress took down her horse whip, and while she was glutting her fury with it, I reached out my great black hand and committed it to the fire." When Stanton returned from hunting his wife told him of the incident but he "took no notice of it. A few days later when I was putting a log in the fireplace I received a most violet stroke on the crown of my head with a club 2 feet long and as large around as a chair post." Venture clearly understood something about the law because he took the club out of Stanton's hands and went to a nearby justice of the peace with it. Stanton and his brother went with him. According to Venture, the justice told him to return to his master. He consented. The justice also cautioned his master about his treatment of his slaves. On the way back to the farm, the Stantons dismounted their horses and began beating Venture. He says "I became enraged by this and immediately turned them both under me, laid one across the other and stamped them both with my feet." After this Venture was put in handcuffs and his ankles fastened with "a large ox chain." Stanton began negotiating with neighbors to sell him and eventually he was sold to a Col. Oliver Smith. At this time, his wife, two sons and a daughter were still the property of Thomas Stanton. Venture made an arrangement with Smith to purchase his freedom. He hired himself out to fish, farm and cut wood and paid Smith one quarter of everything he earned. After four years he had paid some 71 pounds and was given his freedom. But his wife and children were still in bondage. He was 36 years old. He moved to Long Island and spent the next four years working for various people and cutting what he estimated as several thousand cords of wood. He said, "the money which I earned I laid up carefully. I bought nothing which I absolutely did not want, mates I shunned and all kinds of luxuries I was a stranger to." He then purchased his two sons, Solomon and Cuff, for $200.00 each. Four years later he purchased his pregnant wife's freedom noting that he was "prevented having another child to buy." He took the surname of Smith as slaves traditionally having only one name. His older son Solomon shipped out on a whaler against his father's wishes and died of scurvy on the voyage. When the smallest child was born he was given the name Solomon in his brother's honor. He also purchased his daughter Hanna who later died. Venture purchased a house and land on Long Island. He said, "my land and my industry was what alone saved me from being expelled from that part of the island when an act was passed that all Negroes residing there should be expelled." But a year or so later he did leave, moving to East Haddam, Connecticut. There, through hard work and thrift, he acquired 100 acres at Haddam Neck along with three houses. He owned about 20 boats, used in trade along the Connecticut River and the Rhode Island coast. Respected by most of his neighbors, he refers to prejudice only once in his memoirs. Apparently he was charged for a barrel of molasses that fell overboard at Old Saybrook, although he was merely a passenger on the boat. He paid reluctantly saying, "Captain Hart was a white man, and I a poor African; therefore, it was all right and good enough for the black dog." Legends about Venture were traded by the people of Haddam; how he walked on his knees when his feet were frost-bitten; how he freed a beached scow when old and half blind; and how he weighed more than 300 pounds and measured 6 feet around the waist. At age 69, he related his life story. At the end he said, "Though once straight and tall, I am now bowed down with age and hardship. But amidst all my griefs and pains I have many consolations; Meg, the wife of my youth, whom I married for love and bought with money, is still alive. My freedom is a privilege which nothing else can equal. I am possessed of more than 100 acres of land and three houses. It gives me joy to think that I have and that I deserve so good a character." Venture farmed for seven years more and died in 1805. He is buried in the cemetery of East Haddam Congregational Church. The inscription said, "Sacred to the Memory of Venture Smith, an African - tho the son of a King he was kidnapped and sold as a slave but by his industry he acquired Money to purchase his Freedom." Printed in the Westerly Sun, Friday, 9 March, 2001. Westerly, Rhode Island There is also a picture of the rock accompanying the article.