Photograph of William James Knapp, 1865

Date

1865

Description

A photograph of William James Knapp, a ward and domestic worker of the Van Rensselaer family. William James Knapp was the great-grandchild of Dinah Jackson, the last person who was enslaved at Cherry Hill. After his mother died in 1854, James became a ward in Richard Van Rensselaer’s household. They lived on State Street in Albany, N.Y. James worked as a butler for the family. He is pictured here in his work uniform. Throughout his life, James also worked as a musician, a sales clerk at Hideley’s Music Store, a hospital porter and a nurse. James lived at Cherry Hill for about sixteen months between 1880 and 1884. This item was added as part of the Diversity and Collaborative Knowledge Program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Type

Photograph

Region

Capital District, New York State

Era

Civil War and Reconstruction

Topic

African Americans, Community

Repository

Historic Cherry Hill

Identifer

5453_Photo_of_WJK_1865

Source

Historic Cherry Hill

Rights

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