Decades after slavery was abolished in New York, the Elmendorfs, Historic Cherry Hill’s 3rd-generation Van Rensselaer descendants in Albany, used orphaned African American children as servants.
Jimmy (1843-1885), Jane (1845-?), Richard (unknown), and Minnie (1852-1903) Knapp became wards and servants of several Van Rensselaer households after the death of their mother, Jane Jackson Knapp, in 1854.
Conjectured to have descended from prior generations enslaved at Cherry Hill — two of the children are named after Van Rensselaers — the children had quasi-family status, but were servants.
[Read more…] about Albany’s Historic Cherry Hill To Highlight Slaves, Servants