African Heritage

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Walter M. Patrice Online Library Many men and women of color have contributed richly to the history of our county, and to the Dutchess County Historical Society as an organization. Among them was Walter Patrice. He gave DCHS its foundational collection on Black History, relating to the AME Zion Church on Smith Street, Poughkeepsie. His 99-year lifelong commitment and quest for learning through understanding our local history, sets the standard here. We will continually evolve and develop resources making them available to the general public, students, academics and historians, to facilitate the kind of study and learning Mr. Patrice did so well himself, and wished so much for others to do. Shown, right, serving as Lt. in WW2 in Europe and in the AME Zion Church at the time of its being listed on the National Register of Historic Places under his leadership. ~ Bill Jeffway Mr. Patrice served as a First Lieutenant in WW2, and was active in Poughkeepsie’s AME Zion Church. Trails: Resources & Profiles: Enslavement: In Life & Death:

Father & Daughter: Views on Racial Justice Across Two Generations The Bolin Family Born in the nearby Quaker stronghold of the Town of Dover in 1826, Abram Bolin moved to this house on North Clinton Street in Poughkeepsie with his wife, Alice Ann Lawrence Bolin, before 1860. See their photos below. Among the children raised at the house was Gaius Bolin. Born in 1864, Gaius became the first Black man to graduate from Williams College (Class of 1889). He returned to this home until he set up his practice, and married in 1899. The home of Abram and Ann Bolin stands today on North Clinton Street. It is the birthplace of Gaius Bolin. Gaius Bolin (shown below) married Matilda Emery in 1899. A native of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Matilda came to Poughkeepsie as a child. At the home shown below, they had four children: Ann May, Gaius, Jr., Ivy Rosalind, and Jane. Matilda died in 1917, several months before realizing their plans to move to a larger house they were building on Grand Avenue. The home of Gaius and Matilda Bolin. Birthplace of Jane Bolin, the first Black judge in the United States.