Born in 1803 in Wilton, John C. Wally appears to have gone by the name Lazarus in his early years. Handwritten notes scrawled on scraps of paper by a descendant of his enslaver offer a glimpse into his childhood and young adulthood. According to those notes, Lazarus was the grandson of Phillis, sometimes also called Gin, who was born in Africa and was enslaved by Ebenezer Stanton alongside other family members, including Lazarus. It is not clear which of Phillis’s daughters was his mother, but Lazarus is said to have become the property of Stanton’s son, Nathan, when Ebenezer Stanton died. Thanks to Connecticut’s Gradual Abolition Act of 1784, Lazarus gained his freedom in his 20s after which he seems to have begun calling himself John C. Wally. In late 1829, John C. Wally married Harriet Brush, and in 1830 census records, his name appears as a head of household in Wilton, where he lived alongside an adult female, presumably Harriet, and a young child. In 1832, records for St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church show John C. Wally received payment for ringing the church bells. A few years later, property records show him purchasing a house and land from Nathan Betts for $100 dollars. He also apparently worked for Betts, who left additional property to Wally in his will. In 1848, Wally sold his property in Wilton for four times what he paid for it. He and his family apparently moved to Bridgeport, where vital records show he died of consumption in 1859.