Dorothy
Creole
Alternate First Name
Elaria, Elara, Clara, Reytory
Alternate Last Name
d'Angola
User Tags:
ID
660,077
Gender
Female
Family
Notes:

Dorothy Creole married Paulo d'Angola one of the first slaves brought to New Amsterdam.   She and Paulo adopted  a child named Antonio.  She and Paulo were the slaves of Sea Captain Johan de Fries for some time.  Paulo was part of a group of slaves that petitioned the DWIC for their freedom and won.  In 1644 they were given land of their own.    Dorothy  married  Emmanuel Pieterson in 1653 after Paulo d'Angola's death.     

The land grant received by Dorothy Creole and Paulo d’Angola was from eight to twelve acres, a sizable piece of property. 

Documents show that Paolo  had  two children (names under research), possibly with Dorothy.   She had a child with Captian Johan de Vries, named Jan de Vries.   Some of the documents appear to refer to her as Elaria, Elara, or Clara,  in review of the content of those documents, we related them to Dorothy because of the references to the adoption of Antonio d'Angola and/or the son Jan de Vries (de Fries).   Updated research may confirm or disprove this, and the New Amsterdam History Center is always hoping to work with scholars on improved entries that give a more rounded picture of the people of the Dutch Colonial era.


Please see the New York Historical Society's document below that includes more details about the life of Dorothy, and  visit the New York Historical Society website for additional reading and educational materials:
https://www.nyhistory.org/web/

Additionally, the Museum of the City of New York's exhibit may be of interest and poses an alternate name, Retory Angola: https://www.mcny.org/reytory-angola

 

The image above is an illustration from the New York Historical Society's article on Dorothy.  We do not actually have a verified image of her,  so this is a placeholder.