By: Dennis Richmond, Jr. (@NewYorkStakz)
After close to thirteen years of researching my family history, I have made remarkable discoveries. I know for a fact that on my father’s side of the family, my ancestors have been in New York and Connecticut for well over 400 years. I’m proud to say that I can place my ancestors in every period in American history. I’m excited to share some of what I learned.
My name is Dennis Richmond, Jr., and I was born in Yonkers, New York. My parents are both baby boomers. My grandmother, Joyce Watkins, was a Depression Era baby who came of age during the Eisenhower administration. She was a teenager when the movie Singin’ in The Rain was released. My great grandmother, Adele Matilda Merritt, was a child of the Progressive Era. She married the love of her life, Thomas Sinclair Watkins, Sr. in New Rochelle, NY, in 1934.
The year 2021 is significant in my family because it marks the 100th anniversary of my 2nd great grandfather, John Sherman Merritt’s death. Grandpa John worked four jobs and died of exhaustion at just 31-years-old in 1921. He’s buried in Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich.
The year 2021 is significant because it also marks the 200th anniversary of my 4th great grandfather, Abraham Merritt’s birth. He was born c.1821 and baptized at Second Congregational Church in Greenwich in 1831. Grandpa Abraham became a prominent landowner in the town. He owned 40 acres of land in 1880 when Greenwich had a population of fewer than 8,000 people.
Grandpa Abraham’s wife, my 3rd great grandmother, Huldah Peck Merritt (1833-1914), is buried in the African American Cemetery on North Street in Rye, NY. Grandpa Edward is buried there too. My family tree goes from my great grandmother Adele (1913-1977) to her father John (1889-1921), his father Edward (1871-1901), his father Abraham (1821-1880), his father Charles (1791-c.1860), and his mother Margaret “Peg” (c.1770-c.1829).
Grandma Margaret, born c.1770, is my 6th great grandmother.
Margaret was born in Colonial Connecticut, and DNA links me to the Lyon family. It blows my mind to know that I can name colonial ancestors. Through my ancestor Margaret “Peg,” it’s likely that I’m descended from Thomas Lyon (c.1621-1690), one of the earliest settlers of Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Margaret “Peg” was a toddler during the American Revolution. She was around three years old during the Boston Tea Party and six years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed. When America received her freedom in 1776, Margaret and thousands of other Africans and Indigenous People were still enslaved. On July 7th, 1790, Margaret was sold from Daniel Lyon, her “owner,” to Nathan Merritt, Jr. She was sold, “in consideration of the sum of fifty pounds New York money.”
When Margaret was sold, she was around 19 or 20-years-old, and George Washington was president of the United States. As a young enslaved Black woman to Nathan, Grandma Margaret gave birth to two sons, Grandpa Charles and Uncle Jack. Uncle Jack was born on Valentine’s Day in 1793. Grandpa Charles took the surname Merritt, and DNA links me to the Merritt family. I have bi-racial and tri-racial ancestors.
Sometime around c.1794, Margaret was sold from Nathan Merritt back to the Lyon family. Her new “owner” was Benjamin Woolsey Lyon. Margaret “Peg” had at least three slave owners by the time she was around twenty-four years old. Benjamin freed Grandma Margaret on April 12th, 1800. She spent the rest of her years with a former slave named Anthony “Tone” and the rest of her family.
History isn’t some magical thing that happened years ago. We carry history with us every day, and I’m happy to know some of mine.
