Like many ethnic European
Americans, my paternal family immigrated from Ireland in the 1910’s as part of
the great Irish Diaspora that lead to over 25% of Americans able to trace at
least one ancestor to the Emerald Isle. The same was not true of my mother’s
family. Her father’s paternal line could trace their lineage back to Salem,
Mass in the 1550’s from Nottingham in England where they were descended from
Huguenot glassblowers and could be easily called Puritans. They then settled on
the North Fork of Long Island in a town called Southold where they accumulated
property, businesses and slaves. While doing some family research for my
uncle’s 80th birthday, I discovered a bill of sale signed by one of
my mother’s ancestors accepting payment for a slave. It read:
Know
all Men by these Present that I Joseph Conkling of Queens Village in Queens
County on Nassau
Island
in the Province of New York for and in Consideration of Twenty five pounds
Current money of the
Province
aforesaid received to my full Satisfaction of Joseph Lloyd & John Lloyd of
said Queens Village
on
Nassau Island & County & Province aforesaid Have Sold and do by these
Presents Bargain Sell and
Convey
Unto the said Joseph & John Lloyd and to their Heirs & Assigns one
Certain Negro Girl Name
Phebe
of about Six Years of Age During the Term of her Natural Life and for the
consideration of the
aforesaid
Sum I the said Joseph Conkling do for my Self My Heirs &c Alienate Resign
and make over to
them
the said Joseph & John Lloyd their Heirs &c all the Right Title and
Intrest Which I the said Joseph
Conkling
have to the said Negro Phebe to be hereafter the Sole property and Estate of
the said Joseph &
John
Lloyd their Heirs &c in Testimony & Confirmation whereof I have
hereunto set my Hand & Seal
this
Sixth Day of September A.D. 1773
Signed
Sealed & Delivered Joseph Conkling (seal) In Presence of Sarah Lloyd
Rebecca Woolsey
A rather surprising and
upsetting document. That document led me to some interesting discoveries about
the prominence of Northern slavery, and its impact on our local region in
general and within the colonial world of the Anglican Church and the early
Episcopal Church as it came into being after the American Revolution.
Just to give you some further
context, currently the Episcopal Diocese of New York is involved in a
three-year cycle to foster growing awareness of how racism has shaped our
history and continues to influence the present. One thing they have
acknowledged is the complacency of our church around the issue of slavery in
our past and acknowledge there are many colonial-era established parishes that
benefited from the institution of slavery. That was true here on our island as
well as Manhattan, the Bronx and the Hudson Valley.
Slavery was introduced to New
York by the Dutch East India Company when they brought 11 slaves to New
Amsterdam in 1626. We also know that the British continued to import slaves to
New Amsterdam and its surrounding areas once they took control in 1664. Just to
give some additional context, in 1771 the population of Staten Island was 2,874
out of which 594 were slaves. (20%) Slave holders here owned one to three slaves
on average; the more affluent owned closer to five to ten. Northern slaves were
usually well trained in a skill or trade working in close proximity to their
owners in local businesses or farms.
On Staten Island, the first
Anglican Parish which is still active today was established in 1709 in present
Richmondtown. The Church of St Andrew was established by the “Society for the
Propagation of the Faith in Foreign Parts”. The Society was an arm of the
Anglican Church and was not only in the business of spreading the faith, but in
converting slaves to Christianity. Interestingly enough, The Rev. Richard
Charlton, one of the rector’s at St Andrew’s who was a slave holder, and who
plays an interesting role in this saga, was originally employed by Trinity
Church in Manhattan to instruct enslaved people in the faith and lead them to
conversion. Charlton is probably known more for his granddaughter, St Elizabeth
Bayley Seton, the first native born United States Roman Catholic to be
canonized into sainthood.
William Tillyer, a slave
owner, donated the land for the building of St Andrew’s first small church; Elia
Duxbury, another founding member, left land to the church and his slaves to Aeneas
McKenzie, the first rector of St Andrew’s. McKenzie, in turn, left the slaves
to his two step sons. William Harrison, the second rector, was also a
slaveholder instructing in his final will that the executors “sell all..” of
his remaining slaves.
As most of you are aware, we
may only have the first names of slaves that were recorded in legal documents
like bills of sale, abandonment declarations post 1799, and of course, wills.
There is however one notable exception in this cycle with the life of one Bill
Richmond, who started his life enslaved in the household of the Rev. Charlton.
Bill was born, by his account, in 1763, one of a total of thirteen slaves
living in the Charlton household. By all accounts he was an engaging young man
who caught the attention of Lord Percy, a pro-abolition British military leader
who was stationed on Staten Island and had befriended Charlton. In 1777,
Charlton allowed his young slave to become part of Percy’s service party and
Bill departed to England. There this young man was educated, became a cabinet
maker, a well-known bear-knuckle boxer and trainer, served in the honor guard
at the coronation of George IV and opened and ran both a training gym and
tavern in London. He married an English woman named Mary, they had several
children and Bill died in London in December 1829. He is buried at St James’
Church in Piccadilly. Here on Staten Island, Nick Dowen, a member of Christ
Church and one of Bill’s strongest proponents, has been working for many years
to include Bill’s name in the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame. If you are
intrigued by Bill, you can read more about Bill in Luke G. William’s Biography,
“Richmond Unchained”.
Now, St Andrew’s was not the
only Episcopal Church that can trace some of its roots to slave labor. I am
currently assigned to the Church of the Ascension which is located on Kingsley
Avenue overlooking Martlings Pond; it was established as a chapel of St
Andrew’s with support from Trinity Church in lower Manhattan in the year 1802.
There is a wonderful account of how David Moore, the fifteen-year-old son of
the then rector of St Andrew’s Church, Richard Channing Moore, piled wooden
planks on the back of a wagon and drove it down to a plot of land at Richmond
Terrace and Alaska Street to lay the floors of the new chapel. He did so with
the assistance of two of his father’s slaves.
Looking at the list of
founding members of what was then called “Trinity Chapel” and putting their
names into the Joh Jay College data base of New York Slave holders revealed
some startling statistics. Of the nine founding members and rector of St
Andrew’s who is the founding rector of record for Ascension, a total of
thirty-six slaves are listed in the New York Census of 1800. The names of the
slaveholders read like a street map of our island: Peter Mersereau (3 slaves),
James Guyon (6 slaves), Joshua Wright(1 slave), Paul Micheau (6 slaves), George
Barnes (2 slaves), Peter LaForge (1 slave), John VanDyke (4 slaves) and
Nicholas Journeay (6 slaves). Finally, the Rev. Richard Channing Moore owned 4
slaves. He left Staten Island when he was elected Bishop of Virginia, taking
his chattel possessions with him.
There were also other leaders
of other Christian denominations who also owned slaves. These included the
leader of the Dutch Reform Church in Port Richmond. After emancipation a former
slave of his was employed by the congregation of Ascension to be their
caretaker at the Alaska Street location. They provided him and his family with
a salary and small home. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery located at
that location.
Recently, the Church of the
Ascension voted to update their online and official history to include
acknowledging the contributions of enslaved people to the founding of the
congregation and the building of their first building. A conversation begun.
In conclusion, it can be said,
that the roots of slavery on our beloved island have remained dormant and
hidden for far too long, as has the history of slavery in the New York
Metropolitan area. I hope these brief presentations can serve as catalyst to
begin opening up viable and important conversations between all us as we
continue to learn from our past to improve the present and future for all God’s
children.
