Rev. John Hovey succeeded Arundel's first minister, Rev. Thomas Prentice, and, like him, had an enslaved person.

"Mr. Hovey also owned one [an enslaved person], and probably sold him in 1747." - Bradbury, p. 158

"Oct. 21. My negro ran away. Nov. 1. My negro living at ----------, I carried him to Boston." Mr. Hovey does not mention him again after this date." - Bradbury, p. 158 footnote

"In 1734, when peace with the Indians again seemed uncertain, the townspeople voted to garrison the house of the then minister, Thomas Prentiss, and to fund a servant for him. The servant was a Negro slave - the first to live in Arundel. The minister's house stood at the head of Folly Harbor (#1CP Pier Road). When Prentiss left in 1738, the house remained the property of the town and was lived in by subsequent ministers, including John Hovey, who came in 1741. He, also, owned a slave." - Butler, p. 28

"The Reverend Hovey kept a diary in which the doings of his unruly slave sometimes figured." - Schmidt

Bibliography:

History of Kennebunk Port from its First Discovery (1602-1837) - Charles Bradbury

Kennebunkport - The Evolution of an American Town (Volume I - 1603-1923) - Joyce Butler

Slavery in the Kennebunks - Henrietta Schimdt - 1959 local newspaper article