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DCHS Collections Documents of Enslavement A woman named Rachel is “sold” to Christian Tobias on February 4, 1771 Know all men by these presents that I [Mical?/Michael] Obberocker of Beekman Precinct in Dutchess County do for the consideration of the sum of 65 pounds good and lawful money of New York to one in hand […]

Remembering World War One Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, DCHS published two consecutive Yearbooks on the topic, and launched a traveling exhibition that visited every city and town in the county, at least once. You are invited see the exhibition here. The exhibit launched at the FDR Library’s Wallace […]

The words of Frederick Douglass as spoken at College Hill on Emancipation Day, 1858, in contemporary expression. Performed under the auspices of Celebrating the African Spirit in recognition of Poughkeepsie’s 2022 Frederick Douglass Day. For best viewing click “Watch on Youtube.” Research & images provided by the Dutchess County Historical Society, Bill Jeffway, Executive Director. […]

The map below  (drawn 2012 based on 1849 map courtesy of Historic Red Hook) shows a 1/3rd acre plot with a road to the south and a mill pond to the north. The adjacent landowners are Schultz and Elisha Fingar. I believe due to a change in the road, and an expansion of the mill […]

One of the few African American burial grounds mentioned in Poucher & Reynolds Old Gravestones of Dutchess County in 1924.

Given the negligence in keeping records of the burial of persons of color historically, we often rely on other than an ideal primary source such as a cemetery burial record. In this situation we rely on an 1870 Poughkeepsie newspaper account that quotes an older resident as saying, upon discovery of multiple coffins and human […]

The Walter M. Patrice online library is a living, growing resource. Please encourage further work in studies of the local men, women and children of African descent.

Benjamin Drew published the book, The Refugee: or the Narratives of the Fugitive Slaves in Canada in 1856, capturing narratives of freedomseekers in first person testimony. Among the narratives is that of Sophia Pooley, who was born and raised ten miles south of Poughkeepsie in Fishkill. At the age of seven she was sold into […]

With Bill Jeffway & Melodye Moore This program is part of the exhibition, Fertile Ground: the Hudson Valley Animal Paintings of Caroline Clowes. Below: Click on Watch on YouTube to open a new window & to view full screen. Click on the red play button in the middle to view within existing window. The generous […]