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It's Not All Black and White: Alexander Black and Lydia White of Yarmouth, MA (1761-1849)

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I stumbled upon records for Alexander Black while researching another family of the same last name from Yarmouth.  I had to look into Alexander's family a bit in order to properly identify individuals and their places in the correct family trees.  Here is some information on Alexander Black and his family I have gathered.  Research is ongoing. Mr. Alexander Black, aged 88, died at the Alms House (West Barnstable) in May 1849.  This date of death and reported age suggest a birth year of 1761. After looking back over Mr. Black's life, I have to wonder if his last days at the almshouse were not a result of unfortunate circumstances, but support that the Alms House may have served as a hospice and last respite for the town's most infirm and aged citizens.  His place of burial is currently unknown to me. According to the Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Association website, his wife Lydia, is buried in Rhode Island where she died 21 December 1830 at the age of 66. Re...
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Hung for Robbery - Joseph Peese, Jr., of Yarmouth and Barnstable, and other instances of Pees/Pease/Peese found in records: Episode 3 of Yarmouth Indigenous Project

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.   A footnote in The History of Cape Cod * discusses the authors’ belief that the sole instance of an indigenous person born on Cape Cod being executed was that of Moses Paul in 1772. Paul was executed in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 2, 1772, for the murder of Moses Cook, a white man, during a tavern fight. While the facts of the event were disputed, Moses did admit to the incident, claiming self-defense. Paul suggested that the entire altercation would never have occurred if not for the abuse of alcohol. At Moses Paul’s request, Reverend Samson Occum, a well-educated Native American minister, delivered the sermon at the execution. This sermon, primarily focused on the evils of alcohol, was Occum’s first published work. The event holds importance and I will discuss the Paul family in a future blog.   I bring this incident to the fore to refute the notion presented in the History of Cape Cod that, apart from Moses Paul, there were no other instances of indigenous indiv...
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