Enslaved people were considered property, so when Jonathan Maltbie died in 1798, he gave his daughter Sarah (Sally) ownership of Christopher. A year later, when Christopher was 32 years old, he was emancipated (freed) from slavery. Christopher continued to live in Fairfield as a free Black man with his wife Dinah and their children.
Floor boards in the Maltbie House that were burned by the British in July 1779.