"Agreement Solomon Van Rensselaer to Robert S. Van Rensselaer, December 6, 1825 "

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Date

1825

Description

"This document between Robert S. Van Rensselaer and Solomon Van Rensselaer states that because Dian’s mother was enslaved by Solomon, he was “by law, entitled to the…Labor of…Dian and her infant child…” According to Gradual Emancipation laws, children who were born between 1799 and 1827 had to work for more than twenty years for their mother’s enslaver. Dian was the daughter of Dinah Jackson, the last woman who was enslaved at Cherry Hill. The “infant child” in this document might have been Dinah’s grandchild, Jane. Dinah became a free person on New York’s Emancipation Day, on July 4, 1827. When Jane passed away in 1854, four of her children became wards and domestic workers of the Van Rensselaer family. Three of the children - James, Jane Amelia, and Harriet Maria “Minnie” - lived at Cherry Hill for parts of their lives. This item was added as part of the Diversity and Collaborative Knowledge Program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Type

Written Document

Region

Capital District, New York State

Era

Expansion and Reform

Topic

Communication

Repository

Historic Cherry Hill

Identifier

3_14_December_6_1825_Dian_Agreement_SVR_to_RSVR

Source

Historic Cherry Hill

Rights

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