Welcome to the Kingston, NY African and African-American Burial Ground Website.

This project serves as a way to organize important documents and to take steps in helping to protect the African and African-American Burial Grounds in the city of Kingston, NY.   It is sponsored by the Kingston Land Trust.

Please visit often as we add collaborative partners and materials that will help to tell the stories of those buried and to better understand the rich African-American history in the city of Kingston and Ulster County.

If you are interested in participating or have information you’d like to share on any of these sites, please contact Rebecca Martin, Executive Director at 845/877-LAND (5263) or visit the KingstonLandTrust.org

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We would like to acknowledge those who have contributed so much in moving this project forward past and present.  They are:

 

Edwin Ford
City of Kingston Historian

Joesph Diamond, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology
SUNY New Paltz

Jane Kellar
Friends of Historic Kingston

Kevin McEvoy
The Kingston Land Trust

Alan Adin
City of Kingston Engineering Office

Andy Kirschner
Good Samaritan and Business Owner, City of Kingston

Sherrill D. Wilson, Ph.D.
Urban Anthropologist, Ne

Joseph and Bill Forte
Veterans Association of Kingston

Bill Reynolds
Ward 7 Alderman, City of Kingston

Rhinebecks Lost and Found: Free Blacks and the Rhinebeck Association Cemetery, Dutchess County, New York

Yesterday, I received a package in the mail from Brian G. McAddo, Althea Ward Clark Professor of Environmental Science, Department of Earth Sciences and Geography at Vassar College. It was a report that his students had created from a course entitled “Race and Class in the Hudson Valley: Geophysical Investigations”

“In the course, the students research areas that are believed by the local community to be historical burial sites of its marginalized members. The goal is to use geophysical equipment to determine whether there are any possible graves on site and to learn about these members of the past communicty through historical research.”

We are hopeful that one day, Mr. McAdoo and his students will collaborate with citizens in Kingston to unravel the Mt. Zion Cemetery in the same way.

Rhinebeck’s Lost and Found – DOWNLOAD PDF DOCUMENT

Old Dutch Baptisms 1650 – 1809

Baptism Register of the Old Dutch Church for the years 1650 – 1809.

 

Old Dutch Baptisms 1650-1809-1

1790 Census sorted by Head of Household

 

Here are documents that provide the 1790 Census of Kingston and Ulster County sorted by Head of Household. Thanks to Lydia Newcombe, KLT African-American History Committee member for providing us with this information.

1790 Census sorted by head of household

The Old Dutch Church of Kingston, NY Writes Statement of Reconciliation for Slavery and Racism.

“…we the Consistory and Congregation of the First Protestant Reformed Dutch Church, known as “Old Dutch Church,” acknowledge with deep regret our history of dehumanizing racism that allowed for the enslavement and subsequent segregation of our sisters and brothers of African descent.”

 

Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church

The following link are materials taken from the Baptismal and Marriage registers of the Old Dutch Church of Kingston, NY.  Page 52 – Baptism register for people of “Colour” (old original book – Volume 4 – page 310).

Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church of Kin

From the 1855 Census – Black Households in Kingston

The following link are materials from the 1855 Census, Volume 1, Ulster County NY that lists Black households in Kingston, NY.

Kingston Census 1855

From the 1840 Census: Kingston Families Listing Free Black Residents

The following link is research taken from the 1840 Census of Ulster County, NY of Kingston families listing free Black residents.

1840 Census – Kingston Families Listing Free Black Residents

1810 – 1909 Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church, Kingston NY

Click on the link below to view Marriages from the Old Dutch Church in Kingston, NY designated as “Colored” from 1810 to 1909.

1810-1909 Marriages of the Old Dutch Church Designated as Color

Mt. Zion African-American Burial Ground – Family Names

Below are the family names of those found in the Mt. Zion African-American Burial Ground as per the SCORE report created by Charles B. Swain and Rev. Jim Childs on April 9th, 1985.

1755: Slave Census Ulster County

Here is a fascinating document that shows the slave census from 1755. It’s a big help in starting our research of those who are probably buried at the Pine Street Slave Cemetery in the City of Kingston.

Both PDF and Jpeg copies are included here.

Slave Census Ulster Co 1755

Slaves in Ulster County, Page 1

Slaves in Ulster County, Page 2

Slaves in Ulster County, Page 3

Slaves in Ulster County, Page 4

Slaves in Ulster County, Page 5