"Researching Great Neck's pre-Civil War Freed Slaves"

Since his first presentation in February 2024, Morgan has continued his research and will report on his latest findings. 

As cemetery caretaker, Morgan scrubbed clean the gravestones of two brothers, Joseph Ross Hendrahand and Marcus Hendrahand, more clearly revealing that they died in 1862 and 1860 respectively.

Morgan has been delving into church records, the Mystic Seaport archives and collaborating with a North Carolina research librarian to learn more about these two men. He will share his findings at the presentation to answer the question: “What did Mary Harkness’s grandmother have to do with these mysterious freed slaves in West Neck Cemetery?” And how did they come to be buried there?

Morgan encourages those who plan to attend the talk to go to that cemetery beforehand, find the gravestones located in the northeast corner of the cemetery about 5 feet from the wall, and begin to ponder: “Given just the information on the gravestones, what more can we learn about these young men? What questions do we have, what would be interesting to know, and what research strategies and avenues do we follow to get the answers?” Morgan will ask those present what they may know or may have heard about these men in local folklore.