Arriving about 1844, he settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, and opened a barbershop on the first floor of the Middlesex Mechanics Association Block located on Dutton Street.
Immediately and publicly the local Free Soil Party pleaded with Booth to return to Lowell, offering him full protection.
In response, Linus Child, Agent/CEO of the Boott Cotton Mill stepped forward and negotiated the price of Booth's freedom from $1,500 to $750.
Child then raised the needed money from the local community to complete the purchase of Nathaniel Booth's freedom.
In 1855, the Massachusetts Legislature passed the comprehensive Personal liberty laws, which practically nullified the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.