I Found Descendants of Alexander Herritage Newton!!!

Research
Written By John Mills

Alexander Herritage Newton

After 20 letters and emails, I found the descendants of Alexander Herritage Newton!!!

Yesterday, I received a call from a descendant. He said one of his family members showed him the letter I sent! And guess what... HE LIVES IN ANSONIA, CT… the same town where Mary Newton was staying with her grandson when she accidentally knocked over a kettle of hot water and burned her legs, which would ultimately cause her death.

I then received a call from another descendant!!! She said she lives in New Haven, near Evergreen Cemetery, which is where Thaddeus & Mary Newton are buried!!!!

Neither of them knew anything about Thaddeus & Mary Newton. They didn't know their story, knew nothing about Alexander Newton, nothing about Stephen Newton, and had no idea they had ancestors that fought with the 29th Connecticut Colored Regiment nor with the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment.

They were so excited!!! We talked and talked. Both said they would be calling me back. They both also said they were spreading the word within their family, and that they would DEFINITELY be at the ceremony honoring Thaddeus & Mary Newton in June!!!

As Researchers and Genealogists, if we're not giving our research back to the descendants of whom it belongs to... those it was stolen from due to our country's disregard of their value and sacrifice, then what are we even doing???

If our focus is on the African American experience, and if we are acknowledging in our words that these people were marginalized and disconnected from their lineage and history, then how can we dig into their genealogy and not hand it back to their descendants as reparations? Especially if we have already done the work and have the tools to make the connection. Rather than use this information as our own, I'm hopeful this story will inspire other Researchers and Genealogists to do the same... find the descendants and give them back their history.

BTW…For those who would like to help us in our efforts, you can donate at https://alexbreanne.org/donate.

Thank you and God Bless.

John

John Mills

Originally from San Diego, John Mills is a technologist by trade, but an equity advocate and independent scholar by passion. The descendant of both southern and northern enslaved, John focuses on unearthing little known people and stories of this country’s history in slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. John presents research through the lens and perspective of a descendant, with intent to inspire understanding and empathy, a means to inspire good, God fearing people, now armed with information, to look into whether they may be unwittingly aligning to biases resulting from the reverberating effects of a past time. John is a member of the Connecticut Freedom Trail and a member of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum Council. John is also working with an international team funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in an effort to deliver transformational impact on digital methods in cultural institutions...a means to decolonize museums. Finally, John is working with the state of Connecticut, business leaders and scholars in Middletown, CT to honor and memorialize a former enslaved individual by the name of Prince Mortimer.

https://alexbreanne.org
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A Ceremony to Celebrate Thaddeus & Mary Newton