CUFFEE, Paul, philanthropist, born on one of the Elizabeth isles, near New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1759; died 7 September 1818. His father was a Negro, born in Africa, who had been a slave, and his mother an Indian. He followed a seafaring life, became owner of a vessel, which he manned entirely with Negroes, and acquired a large fortune. He was an influential member of the Society of Friends. in his later years he interested himself in the scheme of colonizing American freedmen on the western coast of Africa, corresponded with friends of the enterprise in England and Africa, visited the colony in his own ship in 1811 to study its advantages, and in 1815 carried out thirty-eight colored emigrants and provided means for establishing them in Africa. He applied to the British government for leave to hind other companies of colored people in Sierra Leone, but died before the permission came.