Thomas (1792-1813)
Thomas's sandstone marker reads: IN MEMORY OF THOMAS A SERVANT OF PHILIP AND DEBORAH RHINELANDER WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE SEPTEMBER 2 1813 AGED 21 YEARS. New York had more slavery than any other northern colony. New York's merchants were heavily involved in the slave trade and the colony's restrictive land policy discouraged settlement by free laborers. Until bondage was abolished in New York State in 1827, enslaved Africans, or "servants", including Thomas, represented 10 to 15-percent of Eastchester's population. They were used as farm hands, domestic servants, and as apprentices to craftsmen. |
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