Cesar and Sim Peters site – #127 Wall Street (private property, do not trespass)

Cesar Peters was bought as a slave when he was about 8 years old and spent most of his life in Hebron. In 1787, he and his family were to be separated and sold to pay for debts, but his family was rescued by his Hebron neighbors. Cesar Peters’ family was put under the protective custody of a Hebron neighbor Elijah Graves for two years. In 1789, the Connecticut General Assembly freed Cesar Peters’ family. As a free man the first thing Cesar Peters attempted to sue his abductors for 1000 pounds, a huge sum of money. The case was settled out of court. Cesar Peters moved out of Hebron shortly thereafter. When his first wife Lois died, he married a widow Sim ____ who had a daughter named Celia Peaton. In 1806, Cesar Peters purchased the 2-story house that stood here that had belonged to John Mann, the person who tried to sell his family to settle a debt. Cesar and Sim Peters lived here until he died in 1814 and she died in 1815. Cesar Peters died solvent and owned many fashionable goods like his Yankee neighbors including tea equipment, wine glasses and a set of china.

Think about it

To save Cesar Peters family from being sold, Cesar Peters neighbors made up a fictitious unpaid bill for clothes Cesar Peters had picked up, but not paid for. The trick worked and Cesar Peters’ family was saved.

Do you think Cesar Peters’ neighbors were doing the right thing when they broke the law by writing up a fictitious bill?

Where to go next

From here --walk toward the old burying ground on the sidewalk along Route 316

Meet Your Neighbors QR Tours funded by the Hebron Greater Together Community Fund in conjunction with the Hebron Historical Society

Please note that most of the structures you will see are privately owned. Please respect these properties by viewing them from the street.