an escaped slave whose case became a major political issue in Massachusetts. George W. Latimer was born in Norfolk, Virginia. His father, Mitchell Latimer, was a white man and his mother, Margaret Olmsted, a slave belonging to his uncle Edward A. Latimer. In the early part of his life he was owned by a man named Edward Mallery, for whom he worked as a domestic servant until the age of sixteen. After that time, his labor was hired out and he primarily worked driving a dray and as a shopkeeper. On two separate occasions he spent time in prison as a result of the debts of his master. He was eventually sold to James B. Gray. Gray was a shop owner whose store Latimer manned. He abused Latimer and it is thought that this abuse precipitated Latimer's flight to Boston.
