Mamaroneck Slaves Found in Canada
We’ve known there were slaves in Mamaroneck Township in the late 1700s. We’ve known that two local slaves, John Cox and Andrew Cole, escaped to side with the British during the Revolutionary War and were rewarded with their freedom and passage to Nova Scotia. But until this month, we haven’t known anything about what happened…
Joseph Stewart – “The Governor” Who Was a Slave
by Ned Benton. In the 1800s, in the DeLancey home on Heathcote Hill in Mamaroneck there was a prominent painting in the front hall of a black man. The family called him “The Governor.” With the assistance of the James Fenimore Cooper Society, the Larchmont Historical Society learned some more about the man in the…
LHS Finds More Slaves From Heathcote Hill
by Ned Benton. While the community commemorates the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dream of equality this month, the Larchmont Historical Society (LHS) has uncovered additional evidence of slavery in Mamaroneck’s past. Five new names have been added to the list of known slaves, which now numbers more than 80. Naming the…
Slavery in Mamaroneck Township: Remembering Bet, Phelby, Candice, Jack, Hannibal, Telemaque…
by Ned Benton. In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Larchmont and Mamaroneck, the community reflects on freedom and human rights and recalls their antithesis, slavery. As we reflect this year, let’s remember Bet, Phelby, Candice, Nelly, Charlot, Jack, Hannibal, Telemaque, George, Lewis and Dorathea. They were slaves – not on a Southern…
Two Local Slaves “Recaptured” After 220 Years
How did John Cox and Andrew Cole escape from slavery in Mamaroneck Township during the 1770s and end up on Nova Scotia? The story of these two men, whose connection to Mamaroneck had been lost for more than 200 years, may be traced through documents compiled at Slavery in Mamaroneck Township. Census records affirm that slavery…