Last night I learned there was a record kept of burials in NYC following the 1798 Yellow Fever epidemic, during which Dick, a person enslaved by the Hamiltons, died. I decided I needed to find that record, if it was even available online. (1/8)

In my search, I quickly ended up on a site I’ve used a lot in research—New York Slavery Record Index ( https://nyslavery.commons.gc.cuny.edu ). Before searching their records, I saw they had a new essay—“Alexander Hamilton the Enslaver.” (2/8)

The first thing I saw when I opened it? The 1798 record burial, where they’d found this listing: “Hamilton Alexander, major-general, the black man of, 26 Broadway.” (3/8)

Then I saw they cited my research, and between what they found and I found, we now know this record is about Dick. I’d speculated Dick was a boy the Hamiltons enslaved, but here he’s recorded as a man. Only a few months earlier, Hamilton received money for the work... (4/8)

...a boy he enslaved did for another enslaver, and recorded receiving the money from the work of a boy specifically. So either Dick is wrongly listed in the 1798 burial record as older than he was, or Hamilton referred to him as younger than he was in his cash book... (5/8)

...or the Hamiltons enslaved Dick in addition to the child, his mother, and at least one girl or young woman in 1798. Their discovery in the 1798 burial record tells us there were likely more people enslaved by the Hamiltons than we currently know about. (6/8)

You can see their research here: https://nyslavery.commons.gc.cuny.edu/alexander-hamilton-enslaver/. They also now have entries in their database about the people the Hamiltons enslaved, which you can see here: https://nyslavery.commons.gc.cuny.edu/search/?appSession=74XD62H5500807P0GUBMN5B75AUFHR40D7DHBBHQWV4Y8GZ7IQIB0G222S3QN7W236374G83OAPV24TJL5708ABK371IH713DX788CN88I30VGH3F4377B27F93DCSP6 (7/8)

I’m glad between their research and mine, we were able to learn a bit more about Dick, whose death was recorded without his name on the 1798 record. I hope in the future, other records will tell us more about the people the Hamiltons enslaved than we currently know. (8/8)