William Royall, noted Cantonite in the earliest days of the colonies, was the last of the slave owners in this area. The son of Isaac Royall, William was born on May 10, 1710. At twenty years of age he was graduated from Harvard College and immediately took his residence in his native town.

In 1734, William received from his father the deed to one-quarter of the "London New" ironworks upon which he paid taxes for nine years. Among his accomplishments Royall included several years on the board of Assessors. For sixteen years, from 1743 through 1759, he served as Town Clerk.

He resided, for most of his life, on the old homestead formerly occupied by his father. It was here, in his later years that he developed the reputation for leading a strange life.

Although he had long been the owner of slaves, it was rumored that Royall himself was the slave and those in servitude his masters. Neighbors claimed that his male slaves would often enter the fields, opposite the Doty Tavern, and refuse to allow him to leave the house.

When visitors arrived at the main house, the slaves would leave their work in the fields and disappear into the dwelling first. According to legend, few guests ever noticed anything suspicious; however, a glance upward would have revealed the whites of several pairs of eyes peering down between the crevices in the ceiling.

Royall lived a life of contrasting philosophies. On the one hand, he appeared to regard his slaves in high esteem. On the other hand, he treated them as so much scum.

During the winter of 1778, William Royall, in his sixty-eighth year was awaiting the return of Caesar, one of his most trusted slaves, from Milton. Caesar had left early in the cold December morning with a pair of oxen to bring a load of wood for use in the Stoughton Salt Works.

It was nearly dawn before the oxen returned fighting their way through a blizzard. Royall rushed out to the team only to find Caesar frozen to death on the floor of the wagon. The discovery upset the master tremendously.

Yet a scant two years later, when the new Constitution was adopted, Royall joined the rest of Massachusetts slave owners who feared the loss of their properties. In an attempt to salvage something from his holdings he arranged to sell all of his slaves.

A gang of men arrived from Boston one night with a large covered wagon. The house was surrounded and the wagon backed up to the door. Against their will, the slaves were ordered to dress and were herded into the wagon.