Waldo Emerson (~1736-1774) was a successful trader and built a house in Kennebunk Landing. His estate inventory included "1 negro wench named Phillis."

Emerson "came to Wells in 1757, and settled in that part of the town now Kennebunk. He built a house in the Landing, where Henry Kingsbury now lives, and became a successful trader ... He died at the age of thirty-eight." Bourne, p. 492

"In all inventories they were generally classed with the stock on the farm, or with the animals of the homestead. So also in all wills. In the inventory of the estate of Waldo Emerson, who lived where Henry Kingsbury now does, is the following: '1 negro wench named Phillis £30.0.0, 1 large horse £6.0.0, 1 Mare £18.0.0.'" - Bourne, p. 408. Note that Bourne's quote is not quite accurate. The actual document states "1 Negro Wench Called Phillis £30.0.0, 1 Large Horse £6.0.0, 1 Mare £8.0.0,” not £18.0.0. This entry is near the bottom of page 19 of the 23 pages in the estate inventory.

Note: Emerson's probate inventory also included "2 pews in the 2nd Parish Meeting House in Wells" which is today's Unitarian Church in Kennebunk

Note: "Negro wench" was used most consistently to describe a female slave of at least child-bearing age. FMI: https://onthemarks.net/2018/07/12/negro-wench-appendix/

"He had three children: Samuel born April 25, 1760, Sarah born May 18, 1762 and Waldo born March 20, 1764. Samuel and Waldo died in infancy. His widow survived him but a short time, dying the 23rd of June following, at the age of thirty-two, leaving thus only daughter Sarah, who was married to Theodore Lyman Nov 21, 1776." - Bourne, pp. 492-93. His estate was presumably left to his wife, then passed to their surviving daughter Sarah, and potentially to her husband Theodore Lyman, but this has not been confirmed.

Bibliography:

The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820 - by Edward Bourne (1875)

Maine Probate Abstracts Vol I 1687-1775 - John Eldridge Frost (1991)

York County Registry of Probate