Collection: Patchogue-Medford Library Digital PML Rare Eastern Indian Photo Series, [Set 1]

Date: 1899

Type of Material: Photograph

Source: Scanned from the original photograph which is 10 inches in width and 8 inches in height. https://digitalpml.pmlib.org/search.php?search=item&item=338

Language: English

Coverage/Location: Shinnecock Reservation, Southampton, N.Y. (Town)

Creator: Red Thunder Cloud [Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West]

Copyright: No Known Copyright Restriction

Description:

“The State of New York erected a school for the Shinnecock Indians in the year of 1825. Its teachers were furnished by the State Education Department. Back in the 1830’s the school had only one classroom and one teacher. In 1942 the school had two rooms and two teachers.
In the year of 1875, the old schoolhouse burnt to the ground and the members of the tribe raised money to see that another one was erected. Mrs. Rebecca Bunn (Aunt Becky) taught at this time, and many of the Shinnecocks still remember the days that they spent in this school with genuine nostalgia.
Among those who have taught at this old school were Mr. Thomas A. Williams, a Negro who married Rose Kellis of the tribe, and Mrs. Lois Marie Hunter (Princess Nowedonah) the tribal historian. The photo has rare value indeed because it portrays the various physical types that various members of the tribe exhibited around the turn of the century.”

Colorized

Sissy Johnson Williams: “Thomas A. Williams & Rose Kellis…my great-great-grandparents.”¹

1. . https://www.instagram.com/p/CYc24LVNtmA/[↩]