The much anticipated unveiling of the Raynham Hall Museum exhibit of "The Townsend Slave Bible" opened to rave reviews at a reception hosted by the Friends of Raynham Hall, Friday night, Sept. 9. Claire Bellerjeau curated the exhibit and spoke to visitors sharing the knowledge she has derived from studying material on slavery in Oyster Bay, some of which is on view at the museum. She has become very knowledgeable on the subject and has a great deal of material to share.

The Oyster Bay Townsends, like many prominent New York merchant families of the time, owned slaves who maintained the house and grounds. The inscription on the front paste-down of the Townsend slave Bible says "Bible for the Servants in the House of Samuel Townsend Oyster Bay Long Island." The handwritten entries filling four water-stained pages inside the back cover provide a partial genealogy of Hannah, Violet, Susannah, Jeffrey, Susan, Catherine, Lilly, Gabriel, Jane, Harry, Rachel Susannah, Maryann, Nancy, Kate, Jim and Josh.

New research has revealed the existence of other Townsend slaves: a slave purchased by Samuel in 1749; a woman owned by Samuel, named Elizabeth; and four slaves owned by Solomon Townsend: Charles, Shadwick, Pricilla and her son.

Additionally, the exhibit shows manumission records of Audrey Townsend's husband, Captain James Farley, and Phebe Townsend's husband, Dr. Ebenezer Seeley, who owned a man named Amos Burling. Phebe owned her own slave, Catherine.

The exhibit brings to light documents, letters and artwork that provide brief glimpses into the world of the slaves of the Townsend family. It will serve as the basis for future research into the lives of hundreds of slaves who lived in the Town of Oyster Bay.

One wall of the exhibit illustrates the number of slaves freed from the Town of Oyster Bay, 267. "The lucky ones were freed," said Ms. Bellerjeau. The information comes from a book on loan from the town. "That information doesn't include the years 1788 to 1794, the records from those six years are missing, so that figure could easily be doubled," said Ms. Bellerjeau. Each card on the wall features the name of the slave in large letters and underneath, the name of the person who owned them. "I made the slaves' names bigger to hold them in your minds for a moment - to make them real," said Ms. Bellerjeau.

"I may be the first person to think of the person in 100 or more years. They are the forgotten people. We have to learn all we can and acknowledge their lives," she said as she looked around the exhibit with walls dedicated to some of the stories she is sharing with visitors; stories that took place 300 years ago.

It is not an easy job to research, she said since many of the slaves had only one name: Sibrina, Cintha, Arrobellow, Adward, Hagar, Katurah, Jude. There are 276 people acknowledged on a wall dedicated to the slaves freed in the Town of Oyster Bay. Most of them were freed after July 4, 1709 when New York State law declared that from that day, slaves were to be freed when they were 28 if they were men, and age 25 if they were women. That was the case even if they were born to Black Americans who were free. It was a sad fact for many people, said Lisa Cuomo, Raynham Hall Museum education director.

There are many sad stories to tell. Of the Townsend family slaves, Hannah's daughter Violet died of small pox at age 11. She was born on April 29, 1787 and died in January of 1795. Her Aunt Susannah died of small pox in 1779.

There is an exhibit wall that mentions small pox as it documents newspaper clippings advertising for runaway slaves. The research material was found in a book by Henry Onderdonk titled Queen County in Olden Times: being a supplement to the several histories thereof. The book is a compilation of newspaper clippings, said Ms. Bellerjeau. One of them is for a man who ran away on April 20 from Joseph Hawkshurst, of Oyster Bay. It said he was "A negro man Tom, aged 26, middle stature and pock-fritten." Ms. Bellerjeau explained "pock-fritten" meant he had scars from small pox. "That was very important, since he had survived small pox he couldn't get it again, and was therefore worth more."

She said the words in the advertisements open the reader into "A depth of suffering." Another slave was described as "pocked-mark, speaks quickly and stammers."

The names of the owners are surnames that are still familiar in Oyster Bay: Wanser, Willis, Hewlett, Lang to name a few.

Interestingly, the first free African-American in Oyster Bay was Tom Gall, who was freed in 1685. His name was Tom (Owak) Gall. "He bought and freed his son-in-law Obed," said Ms. Bellerjeau. She said there was a rush of manumissions in 1785. "It [the manumissions] began with a law that didn't pass. Perhaps those people who freed their slaves at that time, were in favor of the law," she said.

Her research is stopped by lack of information, she said. "It is tantalizing and frustrating.

Raynham Hall Museum received much media attention this past winter when it acquired this Bible belonging to the "servants of Samuel Townsend." In the late 1700s, Raynham Hall was home not only to the Townsend family but to other families as well-enslaved Africans owned by Samuel Townsend. On March 10, 1748, he paid 17 pounds for a "Negro bought at the Hesters," says one of the exhibits. A record book at the museum shows that on Oct. 26, 1745, four cattle sold for 17 pounds and two shillings. Another document at the museum says that in 1790, on the death of Solomon Townsend, his son Robert freed three of his father's slaves. He had to pay two shillings each to record the fact with the town.

Until recently there has been very little known information about these individuals, who lived and worked alongside the Townsends for dozens of years.

This rare and valuable artifact was printed (printed in 1771) casts light on an important chapter in Oyster Bay history. The extraordinary Bible, as well as several related items, will be on view now through summer 2006. General admission is $4 for adults; $3 for senior citizens and students; children 6 and under are free. Museum hours are Tuesday - Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Audio tours of the museum are also offered for an additional dollar over the general admission price. For further information, please call the museum at 922-6808.

Ms. Cuomo said, "Now that we have mounted the Bible exhibit we have time to reflect on how we can continue to share this exhibit with the community in depth. It opens up a whole new area we had not been able to interpret without the Bible."