The Red Fox at Staatsburgh: Martin Van Buren & Morgan Lewis’s Letters

Have you ever read someone’s handwriting that’s just un-readable...looked over a note from a friend or loved one and said, “how do you expect me to read this?!”

We found ourselves in this exact situation while examining three handwritten letters in Staatsburgh’s archives. Unfortunately, we could not ask the sender what they had written, because the sender was the 8^th President of the United States, Martin van Buren (who has been dead for 162 years!). However, the researchers at the Papers of Martin Van Buren Project at Cumberland University were kind enough to stand-in for the President and transcribe his difficult handwriting for us. These three letters reveal a complicated political relationship, but a close personal friendship, between Van Buren and Staatsburgh’s founder, Morgan Lewis. 

Martin Van Buren and Morgan Lewis silhouette portraits by Auguste Edouart, c. 1841.
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.

Enslaved & In Service I: Colonial New York

If you're just joining us, consider going to the Introduction for Enslaved & In Service: here! Missed our last post? Find "A New Beginning" here.

"Anyone who calls themselves an explorer is an invader to someone else - someone is always paying for the gilding"

- Alice Proctor, 
The Whole Picture [i]

A slave auction in Dutch New York.
"Slave Auction, 1655" Howard Pyle, 1895.

Sojourner Truth - a contemporary
to Staatsburgh - has introduced slavery
in the Hudson Valley to generations
of Americans.

            Slavery in the Hudson Valley has been an overshadowed aspect of our local history. To better understand Staatsburgh founder Morgan Lewis’ connection to enslavement, it is important to start with how central slavery was to New Yorkers for generations. The entire system of Northern enslavement, from the international slave trade to the local manor houses, operated in parallel with American slavery elsewhere. Yet our contemporary ideas of American slavery fail to acknowledge the scope of bondage in the North. The Hudson Valley offers a window into a world beyond southern plantations to underscore how ubiquitous slavery was for New York colonists and early Republic citizens.[ii] Our collective image of slavery must include people of African descent enslaved in northern states, such as Sojourner Truth and countless others, and not just southern plantations.

My Historical Namesake: The Other Maria Reynolds

In the study of history, a personal connection is often what draws us in to begin to explore a subject or a place or an era.  We might be interested in World War II after hearing Grandpa's stories about the war.  Or perhaps we begin to read about the Underground Railroad after discovering several stations in our hometown.  The attempt to make a personal connection with the people we read about and study is a common impulse for anyone who loves history.  It makes history come alive.  In the 21st century, finding information has become much easier with the internet.  Wikipedia has made it very simple to learn a little about a lot of subjects.  I love to explore the web, which takes me to this story of one of my personal connections to history (and don't worry it relates to Staatsburgh as well!).  My story does not deal with one of my ancestors, but instead with a woman who shares my name.