Crispus Attucks was born in 1723.  No one knows his day of birth because he was a slave. His father Prince was African and was shipped to New England to be a slave of Colonel Buckminster in Framingham, Massachusetts. Here he got married to a Natick Indian named Nancy.  Crispus had 2 siblings:  Phibe, his older sister and his unnamed  baby brother who died when Crispus was seven due to fever.

 

Until the age of 16 years, Crispus lived in a little cottage owned by their master.  From a little boy till he was a young man, Crispus and Prince would do farm and field work.

 

As Attucks got older, he developed a desire for freedom. He became a problem for Colonel Buckminster  because he would wander from his work and wouldn't pay attention.  When he was 16 he was sold to Deacon William Brown. His duties were to buy and sell cattle.  What Attucks wanted to do for a living was to work on boats, something he needed freedom for.  At the age of twenty-seven, he went on a business trip to Boston, Massachusetts. There he secretly applied for a job as a whaler.  He chose a ship that he knew wouldn't return.