Genealogy Talk To Tell The Story

Of African Americans In Litchfield County

LITCHFIELD — From the time of its founding in the early 18th Century, Litchfield County has been home to a wide array of people. Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans all lived in the area, and communities included Catholics, Episcopalians, and Methodists, as well as the ubiquitous Congregationalists.

As part of an ongoing series during the month of February, The Litchfield Historical Society invites community members to learn about the history of African Americans in Litchfield County. Sisters Alene Jackson Smith and Adeline Jackson Tucker will tell about their personal search for their family’s history in a presentation titled “Uncovering Roots: African American Genealogy in Litchfield County.”

The event will take place Wednesday, February 12, at 6:30 pm, at Litchfield History Museum. Admission is free for museum members and $3 for nonmembers.

Ms Smith and Ms Tucker will tell the story of several branches of an African American family that lived in Litchfield and Dutchess Counties from the 1750s through the 1900s. Their talk will highlight the Starr, Jackson, Rowe, and Fowler families.

The Starrs, property owners in Sharon, Conn., fought in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.

The Jacksons were of mixed ancestry — African American, Native American, and Caucasian. They resided in Salisbury and Litchfield for at least six generations.

The Rowes lived in Goshen and Litchfield. One Rowe was a slave in the late 1700s. Yet within several generations the family owned property and its members became businesspeople.

Another Rowe was an apprentice at the Litchfield Enquirer in the early 1870s and was the first African American in the community to receive a certificate of trade. Later this relative became a pastor poet, and editor of his own newspaper.

The Fowlers lived in Dutchess County in the towns of Amenia, Pine Plains, Northeast, Smithfield, and Stanford. They were free blacks for at least seven generations.

Alene Jackson Smith, a professor at Hunter College, and Adeline Jackson Turner, a research associate at Yale University, have been researching their family’s history for several years. Their new book, titled Live Labor Love: The History of a Northern Family 1700–1900, is the result of this scholarship. They will show photographs and copies of materials gathered in their scholarship, including birth, marriage, death, military, and cemetery records. The presentation will include time for questions from the audience. Books will be available for purchase.

“Black Pioneers: Two Connecticut Clergy who led the way in the fight for Civil Rights” will be the next event in the historical society’s series. The Wednesday, February 20, lecture on two black ministers, James W.C. Pennington and Lemuel Haynes, will be presented by Christopher L. Webber. He is the author of two recent books, Beyond Beowulf and A Yearbook of American Saints.

For more information or to register, call 860-567-4501. Litchfield History Museum is at 7 South Street.