Warwick's minority history is still hidden

Historical Society and Albert Wisner Public Library soliciting public’s help in discovering the past, By Sue Gardner Warwick - The legacy of Warwick’s African Americans is for the most part still a secret. While the contributions of many of our community’s Caucasian founders are well-known from writings, photographs and newspaper articles, it’s tough to come by items showing the history of our minority populations. Do you have family photos or stories you’d like to share? Please contact us through the Albert Wisner Public Library, the Historical Society of Warwick, or e-mail sgardner@rcls.org. Black history here began when the first settlers came and brought their slaves with them. According to census statistics, as early as 1755 there were 23 Negro slaves in our area, and by 1790 there were 53 “free persons who are not white” and 92 slaves. In May 1886 the Advertiser ran an article about the finding of an old record pertaining to this early history. The earliest birth in the ledger is: “Born on the twenty-third day of February, eighteen hundred, within the town of Warwick, a black male child named Morris, being the property of Garet Post. Recorded on the 10th day of May, 1800, by Abiah Baird, Town Clerk.” A later entry reads: “We, the Overseers of the Poor of the Town of Warwick, in the County of Orange and State of New York, do hereby certify that Jacob Gaul, a black man, is or appears to us to be under the age of fifty years and sound in health and of sufficient ability to provide for himself agreeably as to the statute of this state, providing for the manumission of slaves. “ Dated the 8th day of January 1811, and signed Richard Poppino, Nathaniel Wheeler, Overseers of the Poor. “Know all men by these presents that I, Henry McCoun, do hereby enfranchise, emancipate, manumate, liberate and set free Jacob Gaul, a black man, and do hereby relinquish all right, title or property I may have to the services of the said Jacob Gaul. In presence of W. M. Noble. Dated the 7th day of January, 1811” Signed Henry McCoun. Recorded the 10th day of January, 1811 by John Morris Foght, Town Clerk. ‘Mitty was the delight of little children’ These facts give us a brief glimpse of the African American presence in Warwick, but for the stories that make them real people to us, we have only the recorded tales of E. B. Hornby in Under Old Rooftrees. In the chapter, “Memories of Old Northern Slaves,” she gives us some descriptions of them: “Among the earliest remembrances of the writer lives Serena, Rosette, Mitty, Roseanne, Sukey, Dine and Bets, as, after their emancipation, they came to visit or aid their old mistresses. “Serena was a tall, amply formed negress, her whole appearance imposing and majestic. A belle might have envied her fine teeth, even in old age. Her laugh was so sweet and infectious that it was music. She was a dear lover of babies, and was never without one in her arms. Serena always wore a high, snowy turban wound around her head. “Mitty was the delight of little children. She had the gift of telling marvelously fascinating stories about fairies, witches and spirits, individually and collectively - Mitty was a firm believer in witches. Though witch stories were not in favor with parents, many a deliciously awful one was surreptitiously told the youngsters when they were absent, during her visits. Tradition said that her name was given her by her mother Waanche, who one day heard her master, in conversation with a friend, speak of the manumitting of the slaves. She knew that the word meant freedom for her race, and from it gathered the name, Mitty, for her babe.” ‘Full of the instinct of freedom’ The reminiscences in this book are in many ways hard for our generation to read, for although the recorder empathizes with the cause of equality for African Americans, her recollections all too frequently betray the racial bias of her time. However, she does strive to present as fair a picture as she can. Another of her stories shows that Warwick’s slave owners were not untainted by prejudice and cruelty: “On the outskirts of Warwick a venerable lady once pointed out to the narrator a spot painfully associated with a memory of her childhood. She was visiting at the house, and a poor slave mother stood ironing at a table in the next room, an ailing, fretful babe at her feet. Her mistress at length exclaimed: ‘”Nance, take that young one over in the orchard and lay it under a tree, out of sight and hearing. I’m tired of its squalling.’ “Without a word, the sad mother took up the sick babe and did as commanded. Coming back, she was ordered, now that the child was gone, to push through the ironing. Quietly she resumed her employment, the tears rolling down her cheeks, and sprinkling the linen as she worked.” Another story she preserves is: “A splendid specimen of black manhood was once owned by an old family in the neighborhood. He was large and magnificently built, full of the instinct of freedom, and had escaped from his master many times. After long search and rewards he was several times reclaimed. Once more he fled, and having been recovered was brought to a blacksmith near the town by his master, who ordered a heavy iron collar fitted to his neck, a shackle to his leg, and a chain to connect the two. The smith refused to fetter him, declaring he would never so use any human being. Angered and baffled, the owner replied that if he did not do as he wished he would ruin his business, as people would not patronize a man who would not help an owner to retain his own property. The smith was a young man, with a rising family to support, and this wicked threat staggered him. He knew the cruel owner would keep good his shameful menace. The poor slave, seeing his dilemma, said: “‘Put them on, put them on, Mr. D--, though if you do it will be the last man that will ever be chained in this shop.’” “Under the stress of circumstances the unwilling smith fettered the negro and he was borne away. Shortly after his shop was destroyed by fire in the dead of the night. When this was related by the smith, he finished by remarking: “I knew well who burned my shop, but I never blamed him one bit.” The Underground Railroad The tide of popular opinion had turned slowly against slave holding; New York was one of the earliest states to abolish slavery in 1827. By the middle of the 19th century, many in Warwick were abolitionists and a rare account of the Underground Railroad, a route of which ran through Warwick, was recorded by a Goshen conductor Wilmot Vail: “Sometimes fugitives arrived on foot and sometimes a friendly conductor of a railroad would help them on their way. There was a man named Wood, the owner of a brickyard at Pine Island, who helped those who were closely pressed by their pursuers to hide or forward them on their journey.” Another recollection of the Underground Railroad in our town is in Predmore’s History of the Presbyterian Church, Chester, which states that a route came from New Jersey through Warwick to the Bull home at Walton Lake, Monroe. They were then taken by horse carriage to the Presbyterian manse on High Street in Chester. The rich heritage of Greenwood Forest Farms near Greenwood Lake and the community there is now being documented, and a welcome series of books Genealogical History of Black Families of Orange County has been compiled by Robert Brennan. Aside from these materials, and a few other tidbits, there is little to educate us about the rich heritage of the Black citizens of our town - we are hoping to hear from those who can add to our understanding. Sue Gardner is the local history librarian at the Albert Wisner Public Library and the archivist for the Historical Society of Warwick.