About five years ago, a group of historians began working on The North Fork Project, seeking to uncover more details of the history of Elymus Reeves and his family, in addition to hundreds of enslaved people of the North Fork who had been forgotten.
On July 8, the Southold Town Board and local historians celebrated the first roadside sign acknowledging the contributions of enslaved people to the history of the town, on the Main Road in Mattituck across from Mill Road.
Elymus Reeve, born enslaved in 1783 in Southold Town, secured his freedom in 1813. After gaining his freedom, he owned and farmed land along the south side of the Main Road in Mattituck, and raised a family with his wife, Hagar.
While the couple is believed to have had eight children, historians can only identify five – including the well-known Reverend Dr. John Bunyan Reeve, the couple’s youngest son.
“His enslavers were James and Elizabeth Reeve. James passed away and Elizabeth first freed Elymus’s father, Reuben,” said Southold Town Historian Amy Folk. “None of her children survived, and she was looking at her estate, and rather than sell Elymus and Hagar, she decided she was going to free them. She gives Elymus and his sister a little piece of land in Cutchogue, called Shell Bank. He eventually sells that…. He then buys his dad’s property up here.”
Of all the enslaved people who worked in the town, only a handful, including Elymus and his father Rueben, were remembered by local historians prior to the North Fork Project’s work.
Mr. Reeve is described in A History of Mattituck, Long Island, written by Charles E. Craven and published in 1906, as a man with a “vigorous mind,” who was “wonderfully versed in the scriptures” and who served as a communicant in the Cutchogue Presbyterian Church. He would pass away in 1870. Of his legacy, Craven wrote, “all who remember him speak of him in terms of admiration and affection.”
His children were also quite accomplished.
Elymus and Hagar Reeve’s youngest son, Reverend John B. Reeve, graduated from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, and went on to serve as both a paster in Philadelphia and as a professor at Howard University. One of their daughters, Parthenia, also became an accomplished lecturer and a representative of the National Association of Women’s Clubs.
Journalist Steve Wick, who is working on the North Fork Project, with historians Sandi Brewster Walker, Richard Wines and Amy Folk, said initially Elymus Reeve’s name was one of few that he’d heard about while living and working in Cutchogue. The group has since found the names of more than 350 other people who had been enslaved on the North Fork.
He had been working several years ago on another project on the history of the Wickham family of Cutchogue, and while in the Wickham farmhouse, “I picked up an old church hymn book and in the hymn book was the manumission papers — freedom papers — for Elymus Reeve. He initially lived on the back of that farm when it was owned by another family.”
“I knew that name, but in a few short years, we’ve found 350 names,” he added. “Those people were here. They contributed enormously to the town that we all live in and they need to be recognized for that. We can’t just tell the story of the English arriving… This monument to me is the start of telling a better story about the Town of Southold.”
“We want the town to find a spot for us to put the all of the names up,” he added.
This marker installation was made possible with a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, which helps communities celebrate their local history by providing grants for historic markers.
“Every Pomeroy marker we fund tells a story, honors a legacy and strengthens the fabric of a community,” said the foundation in their letter congratulating the town on the grant. “What truly sets our markers apart is our unwavering commitment to historical accuracy.”
Keep Independent News on the East End
The Beacon is able to provide all of our content online free of charge thanks to support from our readers. Be a vital part of keeping our community informed!
Advertisement
