Jeffrey Brace
former slave and writer
Jeffrey Brace (born Boyrereau Brinch; c. 1742 – April 20, 1827) was a formerly enslaved person who was taken from West Africa around 1750 and a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He became the first African-American citizen of Poultney, Vermont. Brace became blind in his later years. Benjamin Prentiss published his life story as The Blind African Slave or the Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace.
Biography
Brace was born in West Africa circa 1742 with the birth name Boyrereau Brinch. In his memoir, Brace describes growing up in the Christian kingdom of "Bow-Woo" before being kidnapped by slave traders at a young age and taken to the Caribbean. Scholars believe this region may correspond to present-day Mali, based on geographical and cultural details in his memoir.
Brinch described himself as the “third son and seventh child of an ancient and honorable family.” His father, Whryn Brinch, and mother, Whryn Douden, came from distinguished lineages. His paternal grandfather, Yarram Brinch, served as a councilor and governor in the country of "Bow-Woo", while his maternal grandfather, Crassee Youghgon, was the first judge of petty offenses and civil disputes in Voah Goah. Brinch’s siblings included Cresse, Deeyee, Yarram, Desang, Bang, Nabaugh, and Dolacella.
“Jeffrey Brace” enters the record as former slave and writer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jeffrey, Brace and former can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6175866. VIAF identifies the subject as 62696399. The Library of Congress control number is nr97040775. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1742, 1827 and 1750.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jeffrey Brace” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.