Dutch kept American Indian slaves in 18th-century Catskills, documents acquired by the State Library reveal
A 1720 deed of transfer of a large Dutch farm in Orange County near present-day Goshen detailed legal descriptions of the land — and human property: “William an Indian Man … Lawrence an Indian Man … Casar a Negro Man.”
The transfer was among three boxes of documents contained in the Wawayanda Patent Papers (1705-1840), recently purchased from Harold Decker, a private collector and historian in Orange County. The price was not disclosed.
“It’s the first document I’ve seen that specifically names Indian slaves,” said Paul Mercer, senior librarian in the manuscripts and special collections