Apess was once more in the public eye in January 1836 when he delivered his controversial
Eulogy on King Philip in the largest hall in Boston. He died in New York City three years later.
William Apes -- he would change the spelling of his surname in his last publications and in a series of court cases brought against him in 1836 for unpaid debts -- was born on 31 January 1798 in a tent in the woods near the town of Colrain in the northwestern corner of Massachusetts. His father, also named William, was a shoemaker who moved back and forth throughout his life between Colrain and Colchester, Connecticut, near the homelands of the Pequots in southeastern Connecticut. Apess's mother was probably named Candace; if so, she was a bound servant or perhaps even a slave in the household of Capt. Joseph Taylor, also of Colchester. Although she may have married Apess's father before Apess's birth -- no record of the marriage exists -- she was not formally freed by her master until 1805. There is no evidence that either parent had any formal education, although Apess's father seems to have been able to read and write.
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