This blog post is dedicated to Nora Gavin, the outgoing editor of Connecticut Ancestry. It was both an honor and a pleasure to have her edit all five of my articles on Black Loyalists. I applaud her steadfast commitment to advocating for a more inclusive understanding of American history.
As the Revolutionary War drew to a close a close in 1783, thousands of Black Loyalists from Westchester and Dutchess Counties faced the agonizing uncertainty of what freedom might mean beyond the battlefields they had once known. Some had fled bondage in the chaos of war, others had served in Loyalist militias or sought refuge behind British lines. Many clung to the promises made by the Crown—that freedom, land, and safety awaited them in British-held territories. Yet, as this third and final installment of The Fate of the Black Loyalists reveals, the journey to freedom did not end with evacuation.
For those who boarded ships bound for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and beyond, freedom was fragile, conditional, and often undermined. Some were re-enslaved or indentured. Others disappeared from the record entirely, leaving behind only fragments of testimony in documents like The Book of Negroes. Through the stories of individuals and families —Statia, the Marshalls, the Jarrett brothers, and many others —we trace the haunting afterlife of war, where the line between liberty and captivity was perilously thin.
In documenting these lives, we are reminded that freedom was not a singular moment but an ongoing struggle—one that continues to echo across generations.
The conclusion to this 3-part series can be read here by clicking on the link: Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties, New York – Conclusion
THANK YOU AS ALWAYS FOR YOUR EXCELLENT WRITING AND INFORMATION TO ASSIST IN FILLING MY SOMETIMES RATHER HALF-EMPTY BRAIN!
You are amazing AND i SO MUCH APPRECIATE YOU SHARING WITH ME YOUR THOUGHTS AND KNOWLEDGE IN YOUR WRITINGS!!
THANKS FROM A LESS VERSED COUSIN BEFORE READING THIS REALLY INTEREASTING DOCUMENT
CONGRATULATIONS !!
lOVE YOU COUSIN CHRIS
I’m a tad confused. If Rose Fortune’s mtDNA haplogroup was M23, a common Malagasy lineage, how could her mother Aminta’s mother have been Native American? Wouldn’t she then have a Native haplogroup?
Thank you for reading my article. Rose Fortune’s haplogroup is M23. Period. I have a book coming out next year that represents the culmination of 15 years of research—combining traditional genealogy, genetic genealogy (as Co-administrator of FTDNA’s Malagasy Roots Project), and family history as a descendant of many Black Loyalists, including the Fortune, Francis, Thompson, and Piggott families, among others.
If you are referring to Aminta and Fortune—the supposed parents of Rose Fortune that Barbara Thompson imagined in her book—I must stress that they are not her parents. This type of speculative fiction does not advance the study of Black Loyalist history prior to Nova Scotia, nor does it help DNA cousins reconnect with their American kinfolk. We know the origins of the Fortune name, as well as the places where our ancestors lived, loved, and labored prior to the American Revolution.
Regarding your question about haplogroups identified through mtDNA and Y-DNA direct-to-consumer tests: haplogroups trace lineages back tens of thousands of years and map ancient migrations out of Africa into different parts of the world. For more details, please visit my Genetic Genealogy page, which includes resources and beginner guides that may help you navigate your own research.
My family descends from Rose Fortune’s maternal line. Our living relatives—and those recently deceased—are related to all tested descendants of Rose Fortune across AncestryDNA, FTDNA, 23andMe, and other DNA companies. If you descend from Rose Fortune but do not carry haplogroup M23, I recommend testing older family members who also descend from her. If instead you carry Malagasy ancestry without M23, then I suggest taking an AncestryDNA test and exploring other family lines, which may connect you to additional Malagasy or Native American ancestors. Best of luck with your research.
-Teresa
Thank you for clarifying. I am descended from the Francis family via my birth father, but I have relatives descended from Rose Fortune {I’m not directly tied to her}. The segments, interesting, I share with my Francis relatives are all Native American in make-up. This surprised me.
Please refer to my Genealogy Resource page that references books on African and Native American history. Good luck in your research.