Category Archives: Black Patriot

The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties, NY

1766 Tenant Revolts, Abraham Dalton, African American Genealogy, African American Loyalists, African-Americans in Westchester County, African-Native, Afro-Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous Loyalists, American Indians, American Revolution, Andrew Cole, Annapolis, Arnold's Tavern, Benjamin Cole, Bill Brown, Black Loyalist, Black Loyalists, Black Loyalists of Dutchess County, Black Loyalists of Westchester County, Black Patriot, Black Patriots, Black Settlements in Canada, Black-Native, Book of Negroes, Bristol Storms, Budd, Caesar Nicholls, Charles McPherson, Christopher Halstead, Col. James Delancey, CT, CT Loyalists, David Dalton, Deveaux, Devoe, Dick Van Wart, Dickinson, Digby, Dinah Brown, Dutchess County, Edmund Palmer, Eleazor Gidney, Eleazor Goddin, Esopus, Fairfield, Fairfield County, Fishkill, Fowler, Garret Storms, Gen. George Washington, Gilbert Dickinson, Glen Cove, Guion, Henry Cole, Jacob Arnold, Jacob James Van Gaasbeck, Jacob Van Wart, Jemima Halstead, Jenny Cole, Jenny Halstead, John Cox, John Van Wart, Kingston, Knapp, Mamaroneck, Mary Coles, Morgan, Moses Knapp, Nelly Cox, Neutral Ground, Nicholas Brown, North Castle, Odell, Ogden, Palmer, Peggy Halstead, Philemon Halstead, Philipse, Phillis Halstead, Rachel, Rachel Van Wart, Rapelje, Robblee, Sam Dickinson, Samuel Kipp, Seaman, Shelburne, Slavery in New York, Sleepy Hollow, Susannah Van War, Tarrytown, Theall, Theodorus Van Wyck, Thomas Hunt, Thomas Rublier, Underhill, United Empire Loyalists, Van Cortlandt, Van Cortlandt Manor, Van Gaasbeck, Van Wart, Van Wyck, Willet, William Hunt

This multi-part series of articles provides the biographical sketches of Black Loyalists
from Westchester and Dutchess Counties, New York who supported the British Crown during the American Revolution. My previous Black Loyalists article in this journal  centered on Black Loyalists from Fairfield County, Connecticut, identifying individuals, and describing the turmoil in British-occupied New York City before their departure to Nova Scotia in 1783. This series shifts focus to those from neighboring Westchester and Dutchess Counties. Westchester County, known as “The Neutral Ground,” was a fiercely contested area between British-held New York City and the Patriot-controlled Lower Hudson Valley, while Dutchess County served as a critical base for the Continental Army and supply depots. Though this article does not aim to offer a comprehensive overview of the New York Loyalists' role in the war, it sheds light on pivotal moments that shaped the lives of Black Loyalists from these counties.  Much like their counterparts from Fairfield County, the fates of these individuals were sealed before they left New York City.

I approach this topic as a family historian-genealogist and a descendant of enslaved and formerly enslaved African and Indigenous peoples who served as Black Loyalists and Black Patriots in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Their remarkable contributions to both the United States and Britain have been overlooked. It is essential to recognize that their acts of resistance and agency positioned them as the “Founding Fathers” of both the United States and Canada. Enslaved and Free Blacks witnessed every major event that shaped the founding of this country. These individuals frequently traveled between New York City, Long Island, and surrounding towns and colonies with their enslavers and employers, whether on foot, horseback, or by ferry. They were not passive observers, unaware of their environment. On the contrary, enslaved and Free Blacks were active participants, engaging with historic events as they unfolded.

The full article can be read here by clicking on the link: The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties-Part 1 CA

Part 2 will be published in the next issue of Connecticut Ancestry.

Repairing Erasure: Indigenous Identity and Paper Genocide

23andme, Absalom Money, Absalom Mooney, Admixture, African American Genealogy, Afro-Dutch, Afro-Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous historic erasure, Amey Mooney, Battle of Saratoga, Bedford, Bennington, Black Patriot, Black Patriots, Charles Sharp, Commercial DNA Testing Companies, Connecticut 2nd Regiment, David Sharp, DNA Tests and Indigenous Identity, DNA Tests and Native American Identity, DNA Tests and Native American Tribes, DNA Tests and Native Americans, Ethnic Admixture, Ethnic and Racial Classification, Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis, Fort Crown Point, Fort Ticonderoga, Genetic Genealogy, Genetic Genealogy/DNA Testing, Genetic Paper Genocide, Green Mountain Boys, Heman Swift, Henry Sharp, Hubbardton, Isaac Sharp, John Money, John Mooney, Kitchawan, Lenapehoking, Lenni-Lenape, LivingDNA, MyHeritage, Native American, New Hampshire Grants, New York 26th Regiment, Nichols, North Salem, Phillip Money, Phillip Mooney, Phillip Sharp, Plecker, Ramapo, Ramapo Mountain Indians, Ramapo Mountains, Ramapough, Ramapough (Munsee) Lenape, Ramapough Lenape, Ramapough Lenape Nation, Ramapough Lenape People, Ridgefield, Seth Warner, Southeast Dutchess County, Tioga County, Vermont, Virginia 1924 Racial Purity Act, Walter Ashby Plecker, Wappinger Federation, Zebulon Butler

 The names of Kitchawan (Wappinger Federation) Black Patriots, Isaac Sharp, Absalom Moony/Money, John Moony/Money, are ERASED NO MORE. We thank them, and their descendants,  for their service to this country. Decolonizing the archives is how we, the descendant’s of enslaved and Free People of Color,  repair historic accounts of our ancestors and write them back into history. It can be done.  Thank you, Cousin Billie, I am sharing your ancestral story with me and allowing me to pick up your research where you left off. I know your ancestors are rejoicing now. Praise be to them in the highest. 

This article is a more extensive version of the “Repairing Erasure: Indigenous Identity and Paper Genocide” webinar I gave on October 19, 2023, at the 2023 National Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society’s Conference Hiding in Plain Sight: Recovering the Erased Histories of our Ancestors in the United States and the Caribbean.

As a descendant of the Munsee Lenape, early Afro-Dutch settlers, and some of the first Africans hailing from Central, West Africa and Madagascar who arrived in New Amsterdam during the early 1600s, I’ve had the privilege of bearing witness to the systematic erasure of my ancestors from history, a tragic narrative that continues to persist throughout the ongoing settler colonial project. The overarching goal of settler colonialism has consistently revolved around replacing the original inhabitants of Lenapehoking with waves of settlers who, in substantial numbers, arrived in the early 1600s, solidifying and imposing their distinct national identity and notions of sovereignty. This nefarious process, marked by genocide, enslavement, dispossession, and coupled with the insidious practice of paper genocide, has tragically contributed to perpetuating the mistaken belief that the people of Lenapehoking were rendered extinct.

“Repairing Erasure: Indigenous Identity and Paper Genocide ” can be read here: VegaTeresaRepairing ErasureIndigenousIdentityandPaperGenocideAAHGSJournal 2024_Winter_

 

 

A Revolutionary Breakthrough: Discovering Our Van Salee Lineage

Abraham Jansen Van Salee, Abram Jansen Van Salee, African-Native, Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Afro-Dutch, Afro-Indigenous, American Revolution, Antonia Freeman Snyder, Black Patriot, Cartagena, Colonial New York, Dewint, DeWints, Enslaved People, Fez, Francisco Bastian, Frans Abrams Van Salee, Fredericus Blauvelt, Freeman, Graham, Isabela Frans Salomons, Jan Jansen Van Haarlem, Johannes DeWint, M23, M23 Haplogroup, Malagasy Diaspora, Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, Margarita Al-Shabi, Moriscos, Mudejars, Netherlands, Piggery, Ramapough Mountains, Rebecca, Reis Morad, Samuel Freeman, Sarah Van Salee, Sealy, Sebastian de Brillo, Selea, Spain, Susanne Simons, Tun Snyder, Van Salea, Van sallea, Van Sile, Van Sorlay, Van Sylle, Van Zylle

Over the past few years, my cousin Andrea and I have made some remarkable discoveries that have taken one of our family lines directly back to New Amsterdam. On June 28, 2023, my first article was published in The Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. You can click here to read it: A Revolutionary Breakthrough_Discovering Our Van Salee Lineage_Teresa Vega

For those wanting to know more about the Munsee and African presence in New Amsterdam/Colonial New York, please consider taking this Walking Tour  that Russell Shorto has put together. I was happy to see Manuel Plaza, named after my 9th great-grandfather, Manuel de Gerritt de Reus, on this list.