First historic markers proposed in Riverhead to recognize lives of enslaved residents

The enslavement of people to work on the North Fork and its farms during colonial times and before New York State abolished slavery in 1827 was common. But this aspect of the region’s history usually remains unspoken in discussions of its agricultural heritage.

Local historians, now years into research on the North Fork’s enslaved populations, are pushing for greater visibility of a group that’s often marginalized in local history. They want to erect the first markers telling what little they know about two of the hundreds of enslaved people in Riverhead Town: Sarah Robins and Brister Youngs.

Richard Wines, a Jamesport resident and researcher with the North Fork Project, says the group wants a marker for Sarah Robins near the Sound Avenue farm where she was enslaved by one of Riverhead’s first settlers — and sold off — and a marker for Brister Youngs near Aquebogue Cemetery on Main Road, where Youngs is buried.

“This is a way of telling the story of slavery in Riverhead, and on the North Fork in general,” Wines said of the plan for the markers.

Sarah Robins

Born into slavery in 1689 or 1690, Sarah Robins was owned by James Parshall, “who may have been the very first settler in Riverhead,” Wines said. 

It’s likely that Sarah’s mother, a Native American woman named Dorkas, was a member of the Pequot nation and enslaved by Lion Gardiner, the first English settler in New York, during the Pequot War of 1637, Wines said. Gardiner was a commander in the war, which was fought by English settlers and their Native American allies against the Pequots over territory and trade. The Pequot nation, which controlled Connecticut and parts of Long Island, was destroyed after the settlers won the war, leaving most of the tribe dead or enslaved.

Parshall, a farmer in Northville, married the granddaughter of Lion Gardiner and likely inherited Dorkas when Gardiner died, Wines said. It’s unknown who Sarah’s father was.

Parshall sold Sarah for 16 pounds when she was only eight years old to John Parker, who owned a mill in what is now Riverside, Wines said. Sarah was sold twice more and put on a boat to Madeira, an island off the northwest coast of Africa, where she was to be sold as a slave. 

“So she got to Madeira, and she approached the British Consul there and said: I’m an Indian. It’s not legal to have enslaved me,” Wines said. “And the British Consul gave her a choice, either she could stay in Madeira, which means you had to become a Catholic, or she could go back to New York City and petition for her freedom.”

“And so that’s what she did. She went back to New York City and in 1711 petitioned for her freedom,” Wines said. Sarah would have been in her early 20s then. Sarah’s petition to New York Gov. Robert Hunter for protection and legal assistance, and a document of Sarah’s first sale from Parshall, are the only documents Wines has been able to find about Sarah.

“What we don’t know is whether she was successful in her petition,” Wines said. “About the same time, there was a slave revolt in New York City, and that may have put the damper on these things. But also, the law was pretty clear that she should not have been enslaved.”

Records of slaves in the late 17th and early 18th centuries are extremely uncommon, Wines said. It was unusual then for someone to petition for their freedom, and even more unusual for the petition to be granted, Wines said. What happened to Sarah Robins after her petition is unknown.

“To me, it’s very interesting, first of all, because of the story, and secondly, because this shows that Riverhead’s first permanent settler was an enslaver,” Wines said. “Slavery goes right back to the beginning of settlement in Riverhead.” In 1686, Parshall enslaved five people — three men and two women, according to Wines. 

Wines said he wants the marker for Sarah Robins to be placed near where Parshall lived, near the intersection of Sound Avenue and West Lane.

Brister Youngs

A Black man who was born around 1758 or 1759, and who died at age 80 in 1839, Brister appeared in the 1790 census as one of two people enslaved by Daniel Youngs, a farmer and a minister in an Aquebogue church. That church was on the property where the Old Steeple Church now stands.

By 1800, census records show that Brister had been freed by Youngs and started an independent household in Aquebogue, Wines said. Brister was married to a woman named Zipporah; it was possible that Zipporah was the other slave kept by Daniel Youngs, Wines said.

There are references to Brister Youngs in the ledger of the general store owned by the Fanning family in Laurel. Entries in 1796, 1797 and 1801 reference a “Negro Brister” who purchased rum, brady, tobacco, molasses, a shawl, stone pots and other goods. The ledge also shows that Brister sold flax to the store. The records also show that Brister worked for Fanning in 1802 and 1803 mowing hay, Wines said. 

Brister’s name also appeared on the ledger in the Jamesport store run by David Tuthill — interestingly under the account for Daniel Youngs, his former owner, Wines said. “He may have still been connected to him in some way, maybe working for him or living near him,” he said.

That ledger shows Brister buying building materials — possibly for a house, Wines said. 

In addition to working as a laborer, records show Brister was a member of a fishing company — an uncommon thing for a Black man to be involved in, Wines said. 

“That was back in the period when the farmers were fishing for menhaden fish to use as fertilizer in their fields,” Wines said. “And generally, the companies are made up of about a dozen, maybe 14 people, and each one had a share in the company. And he was a member of one of those companies; all the other members would have been white farmers.”

Another detail about Brister, which appears in a diary entry, was his talent as a chef. 

“Apparently he was known for his fish chowder recipe,” Wines said. When the fishing company caught sheepshead, they would use the fish for a chowder, with every member of the company contributing ingredients and Brister cooking it. His chowder was “considered a rare treat,” Wines said.

Brister is buried in Aquebogue Cemetery, right across the street from Old Steeple Church. Brister has a gravestone, an uncommon thing for former slaves, Wines said. “I know of two other gravestones of former slaves,” he said. Brister’s wife Zipporah is presumably buried in an unmarked plot next to him. Brister is buried on the far east side of the cemetery, in what is technically its back row.

One of Brister’s children, who was named after his father, ended up being members of the Sound Avenue Church briefly and became residents of Greenport. Brister’s granddaughter lived in the historically Black community of Eastville in Sag Harbor. “We’ve tried to trace descendants, but we always come up with a dead end,” Wines said.

New York State was the second to last state in the north to abolish slavery. The state government passed a gradual emancipation law in 1799, declaring them free, but requiring they be indentured to their mother’s owner until partway through adulthood. In 1817, the state passed another law that would outlaw slavery — regardless of when the slave was born — on July 4, 1826.

“Before the revolution, we have very rare indications of any slave ever being free, and generally it was an old man or an old woman who were basically put on retirement,” Wines said. “But the thinking about slavery began to change after the revolution, after all those words in the Declaration of Independence resonated. And anti-slavery movements began to form in both New York and New England.”

”It became more common in the decades after the revolution began to see slave owners — sometimes in their wills, sometimes separately — giving their slaves freedom,” Wines said. That is likely what happened with Brister Youngs, he said, however, “Slavery was still fairly common and some slave owners held on right until the end, kept the services right as long as they legally could.”

“Anyone with long roots here on the North Fork has slaveholders in their family tree,” Wines said. In fact, he is a descendant of both Daniel Youngs and James Parshall — who owned Brister Youngs and Sarah Robins.

The names of many slaves on the North Fork have been lost to time; of the 900 slaves the North Fork Project has identified, they’ve only been able to put a name to half of them. Enslaved people usually did not have last names and popular names were often repeated for slaves. 

“For most of the enslaved, we don’t know who their parents were, let alone grandparents. We don’t know most of their children. We don’t know most of their spouses,” Wines said. 

Wines said he will be applying to the William G. Pomeroy Foundation to post historic markers for Sarah Robins and Brister Youngs. The Syracuse-based organization administers a grant program for historic markers across New York State. 

“They each are particularly interesting stories. Their stories are unique. There’s more we don’t know about them than we do know about them,” Wines said. “But we think by having one marker on Sound Avenue, which would be Sarah’s, and then the second marker on Main Road, they will provide people traveling on both of the main arteries in town this physical evidence of that mostly forgotten part of the town’s history.”