Category Archives: Ethnic and Racial Classification

The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties, NY, Part 2

Abaco Island, African American Genealogy, African American Loyalists, African Diaspora, Afro-Indigenous Loyalists, Afro-Indigenous Patriot, Alice Knapp, Alpheus Palmer, American Revolution, Andrew West, Ann and Elizabeth, Annapolis, Anthony Piggott, Aurora, Bahamas, Beekman, Belinda, Ben Broughton, Benjamin Palmer, Benjamin Ross, Bergen County, Billy Francis, Birchtown, Black Atlantic, Black Loyalist, Black Loyalists, Black Loyalists of Dutchess County, Black Loyalists of Westchester County, Black Patriot, Black Patriots, Black Settlements in Canada, Black-Native, Blacks in Nova Scotia, Blacks in Rockland County, Book of Negroes, Bridgewater, Butler's Rangers, Caesar Nicholls, Caesar Piggott, Caron, Cato, Clinton, Col. James Delancey, Colonial New York, Connecticut, Connecticut 2nd Regiment, CT Loyalists, Daniel Odell, Devoe Family, Devoe Family of Ulster County, Digby, Dinah, Dinah Knapp, Dinah McGrigger, Donald Ross, Dutchess County, Eleanor Fleming, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Black, Elnathan Hunt, Enslaved People, Ethnic and Racial Classification, Fairfield County, Fishkill, Fleura Neura, Fortune, Francis brothers, Francis Family, Frederick Philipse, Gabriel Purdy, Gen. George Washington, General Birch Certificates, Genetic Genealogy, Gilbert Pugsley, Grace, Great Nine Partners, Hannah Palmer, Henry McGrigger, Horseneck, Ichabod Wilkins, Indentured Servants, Indigenous Americans, Indigenous Loyalists, Isaac Hatfield, Isaac Vermilyea, Israel Merritt, Jacob Ross, James Morgan, Jason, Job Knapp, John Piggott, John Prudden, John Simonsbury, John Wilkins, Joseph Odell, King American Dragoons, Kitchawan Wappinger, Knapp, Livingston, London, Long Island, Loyalist Transporters, Lydia Purdy, M23, Malagasy Diaspora, Malagasy Roots, Mamaroneck, Michael Wilkins, Monmouth County, Moriah, Moses Knapp, Moses Palmer, Munsee Lenape, Nancy Broughton, Native American, Native American Loyalists, Ned Moore, Neutral Ground, New Brunswick, New York City, Nicholas and Jane, Nova Scotia, NY to Madagascar Slave Trade, Odell, Orange County, Peekskill, Peggy, Peter, Peter Lawrence, Philipsburg Manor, Philipse, Phillip Earle, Phillis, Phillis Wilkins, Piggott, Purdy, Richard Black, Robert Merritt, Rockland County, Rose Yates, Samuel Fleming, Samuel Myers, Sarah Piggott, Schuyler, Sierra Leone, Slavery in Connecticut, Slavery in New Jersey, Slavery in New York, Sleepy Hollow, Southeast Dutchess County, Sue, Suffolk County, Tappan Patent, Tarrytown, The Black Brigade, The Black Pioneers, The Book of Negroes, The Ethiopian Regiment, The Oblong, Tracadie, Tree Briton, Tryon County, United Empire Loyalists, Van Buskirk, Van Cortlandt, Van Cortlandt Manor, Van Wart, Van Winkle, William, William Francis, William Pugsley, William Syruss, zana-mulata

The American revolution left a profound legacy not only for the birth of this nation but also for those who chose loyalty to the British Crown over rebellion. Among these Black Loyalists ── individuals, both free and enslaved, who faced unimaginable challenges as they navigated the complexities of war and its aftermath. This article continues the exploration of their lives, focusing on those who originated from Westchester and Dutchess Counties, New York. Many lived on estates owned by prominent families, including the Philipse, Van Cortlandt, Schuyler, Livingston, and Beekman Manors.

Drawing from my own family’s deep roots in these counties, this series sheds light on the experiences of individuals whose choices and sacrifices shaped their futures in the face of war, displacement, and resettlement. By chronicling their journeys ── be it evacuation to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or other parts of the British Empire ── this article aims to honor their resilience and contribution to history. These stories remind us of the diverse threads of loyalty, survival, and identity that are woven into the fabric of the Revolutionary era.

The full article can be read here by clicking on the link: The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties NY- Part 2

Part 3 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_