A negro mathematician; born in
Maryland, Nov. 9, 1731.
He taught himself mathematics; and for many years, while engaged in daily labor, made the necessary calculations for and published an almanac for
Maryland and the adjoining States.
Mr. Jefferson presented one of his almanacs to the French Academy of Sciences, where it excited wonder and admiration, and the
African almanac became well known to the scientific circles of
Europe.
In 1790 he was employed by the commissioners in the survey of the boundaries of the District of Columbia.
His grandmother was an Englishwoman, who purchased a small plantation in
Maryland, bought two slaves from a ship just from
Africa and married one of them.
He died in
Baltimore, in October, 1806.
