How Frank Became Francis: The Rediscovery of a Free Black Community in Staatsburg

Staatsburgh’s former Historic Site Assistant, Zachary Veith, published an essay in the Dutchess County History Society's 2025 Annual Yearbook, which is a compilation of work he did while at Staatsburgh, researching the African American residents of Staatsburg, Hyde Park and Rhinebeck.  His entire essay can be found HERE, but this blog essay includes excerpts from the article that are most closely related to the hamlet of Staatsburg.

The Dutchess County Historic Society is located in Rhinebeck, NY and the organization is committed to serving as archival repository, providing interpretation, and presenting the history of Dutchess County to the public. Image: Dutchess County Historical Society

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Patriots, Prisoners & Passengers: Women's History Month

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency ... I desire you would remember the ladies” - Abigail Adams to husband John, 1776

At Staatsburgh, portraits of Ruth Livingston Mills’s ancestors feature prominently throughout the house. This was by design, as Ruth’s pedigree—alongside her family’s generational wealth and her impeccable hostessing skills—was one major factor in her quest to become queen of Gilded Age Society. On a tour of the mansion, the accomplishments and prominent offices held by the men in her family are highlighted, as they feature so greatly in American revolutionary history. But the women associated with Ruth’s family—Elizabeth Lewis, Margaret Livingston, Catherine Livingston, and Mary Lincoln—have their own stories of courage, duty, and perseverance amidst the turmoil of revolutionary America.

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.

“Your Friend and Brother Soldier”: Lafayette’s 1824 Visit to Staatsburgh

The Hero of Two Worlds

On a late September morning, the steamship James Kent laid anchor in the shadow of Staatsburgh House. Stepping off the dock, 67-year-old French aristocrat Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette made his way up the hill to the Lewis family mansion. His host for the day, Staatsburgh’s founder Morgan Lewis, served with the French nobleman in the American Revolution. This year, 2024, marks the 200^th anniversary of Marquis de Lafayette’s triumphant visit to the United States—and Staatsburgh.

The original Staatsburgh, c. 1806.
P. Lodet, 1806 drawing from the Hudson River Sketchbook. 
Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY.

Enslaved & In Service II: A New Nation

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

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."

- Frederick Douglass,

"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
(1852)

John Trumbull. Declaration of Independence. 1826. Oil on canvas.
12' x 18'. United States Capitol Rotunda. 
Edited by Arlen Parsa and Zachary Veith to highlight enslavers depicted.
Courtesy of PolitiFact.

            At the conclusion of the War for Independence, Benjamin Rush stated “The American War is over, but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed.”[i] Benjamin Rush and others expected great social change on the horizon. Indeed the revolutionary rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence – that all men are created equal – had a resounding impact on every aspect of society, especially the growing discussion around enslavement.[ii] The words and actions of the Revolutionary generation demonstrate a paradox between owning humans and espousing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of the forty-seven men depicted in John Trumbull's painting, "Declaration of Independence" (above), thirty-four enslaved people. Among those thirty-four men, indicated with red dots over their faces by documentarian Arlen Parsa, are Morgan Lewis' father, Francis Lewis (indicated by a yellow diamond) and his brother-in-law, Robert Livingston (indicated by a blue square). Despite how Benjamin Rush and others saw the American Revolution as a social revolution, the conditions for enslaved Black people in the early republic barely improved.[iii] The same men who declared "all men are created equal" enforced a racial hierarchy that denied basic human rights to Black and other non-White people.

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.

Enslaved & In Service: A New Beginning

Plato. William. Belinda. Stephen. Mary. Peter Williams. Dinah.
The recorded names of people enslaved by Morgan Lewis.

Morgan Lewis,
founder of Staatsburgh.

             Former governor Morgan Lewis is traveling home from Albany. His carriage drives down the dirt roads parallel to the merchant ships sailing in the Hudson River. Before long, he and Mrs. Gertrude Livingston Lewis stop along their way to visit her siblings in one of the countless Livingston estates between Albany and Clinton. Lewis soon arrives at his own country seat, “Staatsburgh,” named for the original Dutch land owners. Their carriage drives past the sheep grazing and horse stables nearby, when the magnificent Federal Style brick mansion comes into view. As Morgan Lewis steps out of his carriage, Stephen, his Black enslaved valet dressed in European-style livery, is there to carry his bags. The cook, a Black enslaved woman named Mary, is preparing the Lewis family’s dinner inside. The Black domestic staff have been busy all day preparing the home for their enslaver’s arrival.  

Black Iron Under a White Gilding

As part of the site's commemoration of Juneteenth, Staatsburgh's historic interpreter, Zachary Veith, is sharing his ongoing research into the people enslaved by Morgan Lewis. 

Mary. Stephen. Caesar. Belinda. Pompey. Plato. Peter Williams. 

"Anyone who calls themselves an explorer is an invader to someone else - someone is always paying for the gilding" - Alice Proctor [1]

Morgan Lewis, enslaver.

"Ruth's great-grandfather, Morgan Lewis, built Staatsburgh in 1795. He is remembered as the third Governor of New York, a general during the Revolutionary War, and an aide to George Washington. When the original house burnt in 1832, it was rebuilt."