It was while engaged in activity of this kind that he met "the pale messenger." His health began to fail him early in the spring of 1817. In April, however, he was well enough to attend Quarterly Meeting, but in June he was "on the bed of languishing." An eminent Rhode Island physician was summoned but he could not heal him. He doubtless then realized what he himself expressed in these words to Samuel R. Fisher, February 28, 1817: "May we often call to remembrance that we have no certain containing city here but above all things may we seek one to come whose builder is God that when we put off this body of mortality we may be clothed with the spirit of immortality that we may be prepared and favored to experience that glorious regeneration and friendship of everlasting peace."
On the morning of July 27 the Captain took solemn leave of his family. The hand that had guided the Traveller to so many ports was now so enfeebled that it was limp in the grasp of the little grandchildren. He shook hands with all the relations and the immediate members of his own household. As he bade them farewell it was "as broken a time," wrote his brother John, "as wast ever known amongst us." "Not many days hence," he said to his neighbors, "and ye shall see the glory of God; I know that my works are gone to judgment before me but it is all well, it is all well." Day by day he kept failing and on first day morning at two o'clock, September 9, the Captain was borne away on the invisible but irresistible tide.[66]
The funeral exercises were held on the following Monday afternoon. In marked solemnity a great concourse of people gathered. After waiting in great silence his friends bore testimony to his work and merit. He was buried in the Friends cemetery at the South Meeting House in Westport, a place of worship formerly known as the Old Meeting House when the Cuffe family worshipped there. "Many of his neighbors and friends," said William Rotch, Jr., "evinced their respect for his memory by attending his funeral (which was conducted agreeably to the usages of the Society of Friends, of which he was a member) and at which several lively testimonies were borne to the truth, that the Almighty Parent has made of one blood all the nations of men, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."[67]
The New York African Institution held services for him in October following his death. The funeral sermon was preached in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church by Peter Williams, Jr. That trait of character which rendered Cuffe so eminently useful, said the speaker, was "a steady perseverance in laudable undertaking, which overcomes obstacles apparently insurmountable and attains its object, while others fall back in despair."
"Shall I say to you, my African brethren," continued the Reverend Mr. Williams, "go and do likewise? Subjected as we too generally are, to multiplied evils of poverty, made more intolerant by the prejudices which prevail against us, his example is worthy of our imitation. It is only by an honest, industrious, and prudent husbanding of all the means which are placed in our power, that we can hope to rise on the scale of society."[68]
His death was chronicled in many papers with appropriate praise of his life. Niles Register noted that all classes of people esteemed his morality, truth and intelligence.[69] The Columbian Sentinel praised his charity and particularly his deep interest in his race. "He was concerned not only to set them a good example by his own correct conduct; to admonish and counsel them against the habits to which he found them most prone; but more extensively to promote their welfare."[70] The Colonization Herald said, "Captain Cuffe was a man of the strictest integrity, modest yet dignified in his manners, of a feeling and liberal heart, public spirited and well versed in the business of the world."[71]
"In the example of Paul Cuffe," said The New York Spectator, "the free people of color in the United States may see the manner in which they may require competency and reputation. It is the beaten path of industry and integrity. Captain Cuffe cultivated his own farm and guided his own ship. He labored with his own hands and kept his own book of accounts. He did not waste his time in idleness, nor his income in extravagance. He was never charged with intrigue in his contracts, neglect in his promises, or fraud in his traffic.... His example therefore, is capable of imitation by every free person of color."[72]
One Hundred Years After
Paul Cuffe had some descendants of consequence. Horatio P. Howard, a great-grandson of Captain Cuffe, wrote a short biography of his grandsire and erected a monument in his memory. Ruth Cuffe married Alexander Howard and their son, Shadrack, was the father of Horatio. He was born in New Bedford in 1854, and beginning in 1888 served as a clerk in the Custom House in New York City. Howard died February 20, 1923, leaving considerable wealth, $5000 of which he bequeathed to Hampton, and the balance of which he gave to Tuskegee as a fund to establish Captain Paul Cuffe Scholarships.