Birth Records for the Enslaved: 1799-1801

June
January 3, 2012

To find the birth records for Kings County during the 19th century, we usually refer people to the Municipal Archives. There you will find the names of people born in Brooklyn from 1866 to 1909. But here we are fortunate to have some earlier records as well. Donated by St. Francis College some years ago, these microfilmed records span the years 1799 - 1801 and they chronicle births in Flatbush, which at the time was its own municipality. The records are written in meticulous, precise calligraphic handwriting. John Vanderveer, the town clerk at that time, put pen to paper using succinct and efficient language, recording each birth for posterity. The ledger contains the usual suspects of Brooklyn's early farmocracy, names that would in later years distinguish our streets, schools, and buildings. Entry after entry, month after month, one can imagine Vanderveer as he inscribes the names for the Lefferts, Remsen, Ditmars, Rapelye, Bergen, Lott, Martense, Gerritsen et al. households.

But what sets these births records apart from the better known files at the Municipal Archives is that these are the lists of births for enslaved persons in Flatbush. They begin with the names of all who held enslaved people in Flatbush, and with the numbers of the enslaved--page after page with a businesslike formality that masks the human impact of the events.

"I Jannite Lott of the new Lots in the town of Flatbush, widow do certify that a Female child named, Suke, aged Five Months, was born of a Slave belonging to me. Witness my hand this thirieth day of August, one thousand Eight hundred. Jannitie Lott
To the Town Clk of Flatbush Recorded the 2nd Sept. 1800 by me John C. Vanderveer Clk."

There is no mention of the mother's name--just the property owner and the name of the child. Names like Dine, Sukey, Jafta, Henry, Bett, who as newborns in that turn of the 19th century would grow up seeing the light at the end of the darkened tunnel. In 1799 the state legislature passed the "Act for Gradual Abolition of Slavery" which decreed that any child born of an enslaved parent, after July 4th, 1799 would be free -- in 28 years for men, and 25 years for women. Sadly the mothers of these children would remain a enslaved for life, but would be called indentured servants.

"I Court Vanbrunt of the new lots in the Town of Flatbush, Farmer do hereby certify that a female child named Poll, aged eight Months, was born of a slave belonging to me. Witness my hand this thirtieth day of August one thousand eight hundred." Court Vanbrunt to the town Clerk of Flatbush , Recorded the 2nd of September 1800 . John C Vanderveer Clk.

Where did they go after the act of enslaving people was abolished in 1827? Some may have stayed on at the farms where they worked. Still others were kidnapped and sold South. And more remained, raising families and starting the work that led to the many African-American institutions in Brooklyn. We don't know for sure, but we have their names.