 Cuff Slocum was born as a member of the Ashanti, from the Ashanti Region of present-day Ghana.He was enslaved at about age ten and brought to Newport, Rhode Island where he was purchased by Ebenezer Slocum, a farm owner in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.In 1742, Ebenezer Slocum sold Cuff to his nephew, John Slocum, for 150 English pounds.