Archival data have revealed some attention-grabbing historical past about an enslaved Black man in New York, but additionally how these held captive lived and the way African Individuals with roots within the metropolis can hint their heritage.
George Rex is recorded as having died on March 2, 1885, in Elmhurst, Queens, on the age of 89. On the time of his demise, Elmhurst was often called “Newtown,” and the city’s archives — now a part of the NYC Municipal Archives — present subsequent to his title that within the class for his “occupation,” he was described as “the final slave.”
Archivists discovered about Rex after Dr. Michelle Morse, the performing commissioner and chief medical officer of the Division of Well being and Psychological Hygiene, toured the archives. She seen that manumission data — the paperwork created to adjust to New York State’s 1799 Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery — listed the date a toddler was born to an enslaved lady alongside some other info obligatory for his or her emancipation.
“Dr. Morris was notably intrigued by them,” notes Kenneth Cobb, assistant commissioner for data and knowledge providers. “The manumission data date from 1799, when New York State handed a regulation for the gradual emancipation. Any youngster born to an enslaved lady after July 4, 1799, can be mechanically free — males at age 25, ladies at 28. To maintain observe of their age, they wanted to report the delivery earlier than some city official.”
However the data missed some particulars: “The issue with these data is, for instance, it says the male youngster by the title of so and so was born on such day, however what’s the daddy’s title? It’s not recorded,” stated Cobb. “What title did he take when he was free at age no matter? I believed, perhaps the very important data we now have — delivery, demise, and marriage data — might assist fill in a few of that ignorance and provides these youngsters extra sense of identification and dignity.”
Whereas they went over Newtown’s demise ledger, Cobb and his coworkers discovered an entry for George Rex. His label as “the final slave” was most likely simply native recognition that Rex had been enslaved in New York. When Rex died, his demise was coated in native newspapers: the Brooklyn Each day Eagle ran articles about him, like “Frozen to Demise” on March 3, 1885, which described how Rex, often called George Recks in some data, vanished from his house on Quincy Avenue close to Lewis Avenue in what’s now Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
The article notes that Rex had been enslaved by the Rapelye household and was believed to be the final enslaved individual freed on Lengthy Island. “One of many newspaper tales stated he was named for King George, as was his father apparently,” Cobb defined, noting the totally different spellings of the household title: Rex, Recks, Ricks.
Rex lived for years in a small home on Quincy Avenue. “He lived in Brooklyn, on land from the Rapelye household. They’d given him this place,” Cobb defined. “The data we now have of property possession and so forth confirmed the lot the place he lived.”
Tracing George Rex’s lineage exhibits that Black households can entry very important data, press stories, property maps, and demise certificates by municipal archives to construct household timber. Cobb encourages these enthusiastic about their very own genealogical analysis to additionally seek the advice of the town’s Municipal Archives.
“Most of those very important data have been digitized they usually’re on-line and fairly accessible both immediately from the municipal archives or by the use of Ancestry.com,” Cobb defined. “In case you don’t have a subscription, you possibly can go to any public library and get free entry to Ancestry.com. We assist individuals do their household analysis utilizing these data, that are largely digitized and on-line now. It’s pretty accessible at this level.”
The Municipal Archives has a transcription undertaking for manumission data that’s quickly paused however ought to startup once more quickly. Cobb stated that can assist researchers much more. “The concept is that they’ll transcribe the manumission data. You’ll get names, after which we will take these names and search for them within the very important data in a while.”
Town’s archivists traced George Rex’s household for a number of generations. A wedding certificates for his daughter, Phoebe Ricks, confirmed that her dad and mom had been George Ricks and Isabella Crips. Isabella’s demise certificates exhibits she was born in Virginia and buried on the “Weekesville” Cemetery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Extra of George Rex’s youngsters had been recognized by the Historic Important Report assortment, together with daughters Margaret and Jane, in addition to sons William, Thomas, and Peter, who died younger. Analysis into Phoebe and her husband, Joseph Trower, discovered not less than two sons, Walter and Herbert, whose data listed Phoebe Ricks and Joseph A. Trower as their dad and mom. “The concept is we’ll take this ahead, maybe even discover a few of George Rex’s descendants to today,” Cobb stated.
