Author Topic: Ceaser Springfield  (Read 3227 times)

Offline wisby

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Ceaser Springfield
« on: Monday 03 August 09 00:34 BST (UK) »
I am looking for any information on Ceaser Springfield who lived in New York. He was born in late 1700,s? and his son Samuel migrated to Australia in 1853.
I would appreciate any help.
Nola
Bacon - Wisby, Essex
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Offline AMBLY

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #1 on: Monday 03 August 09 01:01 BST (UK) »
Hi Nola

Possibly a  mention here ca 1823 Brooklyn NY:
http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Directory/1823.Bklyn.Directory.html

AFRICAN METHODIST CHURCH Brooklyn
A Caesar SPRINGFIELD is listed in the names of Preachers and Class leaders, and Trustees of the church.

Cheers
AMBLY
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

"Now that we're all here, I'm not sure if we're all there...."

 Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz
 Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace
    ~Benito Juarez (1806-1872)

Offline AMBLY

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #2 on: Monday 03 August 09 01:07 BST (UK) »
Was Caesar an African American?

If so, he's on the 1850 US Census, in Brooklyn, Kings NY

Caesar SPRINGFIELD 59, Black, Labourer b New York (abt 1791) (able to read/write)
Wife: Mary SPRINGFIELD 55, Black, b New Jersey (unable to read/write)

You can see the original census image of Family Search Labs
http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0

Cheers
AMBLY
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

"Now that we're all here, I'm not sure if we're all there...."

 Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz
 Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace
    ~Benito Juarez (1806-1872)

Offline johnnyboy

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #3 on: Monday 03 August 09 01:14 BST (UK) »
Hi Wisby: I typed "Ceaser Springfield" and New York into Google and got a reference to a book published in 1918 called "Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York." The Assembly is one house of the New York State Legislature. From a section about the value of New York City churches as landmarks:  

"Centennial of A. W. M. E. Church of Brooklyn"

"During the week from Sunday, February 3, to Sunday, February 10, 1918, the African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal church at High and Bridge Streets, Brooklyn, celebrated the centennial of its organization. As this is the first African Methodist Episcopal church in the State of New York, the circumstances of its formation are of no little interest. From an historical sketch prepared by Mr. Henry S. Robinson, historian member of the centennial celebration committee, it is learned that before the formation of the Bridge Street church, as it is called, the Brooklyn negroes went to the only Methodist church in Brooklyn which had a white congregation, and sat in the gallery. The subject of having a church of their own was discussed among the colored people as early as 1812, but it was not until 1817, when their numbers had grown so great that they had become conspicuous in the white Methodist church gallery, that they decided to take up the project actively. A meeting was therefore held on May 14, 1817, at which the negroes of Brooklyn formed a society to raise funds to buy land for a church. They agreed to pay fifty cents a month into the treasury for a building fund. A delegation was appointed to go to see Bishop Richard Allen of Philadelphia as to sending a preacher for this new church among negroes, and ordaining several of the delegates as local preachers.

"In the fall of 1817 a grand rally was held, $130 was collected and two lots were bought on the east side of High street, between Bridge and Jay streets.

"On January 12, 1818, the male members of the African Wes- leyan Methodist Episcopal Church in the Village of Brooklyn, County of Kings, State of New York, met and legally elected as Trustees Peter Croger, Benjamin Croger, Israel Jemison, John K. Jackson and Caesar Springfield.

"On January 19, 1818, the certificate of their election was filed with Mr. Justice John Garrison of the Court of Common Pleas of Kings county and approved, and on February 7, the approved certificate of election was filed with the Clerk of Kings county; and thus the first African Methodist Episcopal church in the State was incorporated.

"The congregation worshiped in a church on High street until 1854, in the meantime having established a branch church in Flatbush.

"The site of the present church was formerly part of the Doctor Duffield estate. In 1829, it passed to the Pierrepont estate. On July 7, 1854, Edward and Margaret Pierrepont assigned it to the trustees of the First Congregational church, and 0n July 12, 1854, the latter sold it to the A. W. M. E. Church. Either on the fourth Sunday of July or the first Sunday of August, 1854, the Rev. J. Morris Williams, pastor, led his flock from the High street church to the new church on Bridge street. The present pastor is Rev. W. Spencer Carpenter.

"Not only is the Bridge Street Church the Mother of the A. M. E. Churches hut it is also one of the historic spots of the country and the north. It was in this building in the days of John Brown that the abolitionists harbored the slaves being smuggled from the South through the " underground railroad " to Canada, and the cellar of the Bridge street Church was a station on the way. In their idle moments the slaves carved a man into the stone floor in the cellar and he is still there."

If this is your man, you can plug "Ceaser Springfield" New York into Google Books and find six or seven more books that mention him.

Incidentally, John Brown, if you're not well acquainted with the history of the American Civil War, was a white abolitionist who in 1859, led an attack on a U.S. government arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (later West Virginia) with intention of using the captured weapons to start slave revolts in the South.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
John  :o :o :o
ENGLAND (all Yorkshire but one)
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DOBSON, LONGBOTTOM: Thornton (Bradford)
DRURY: Darton, Halifax, and Massachusetts
NEVIL(LE): Wigan (Lancs.), Darton
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GARSIDE: Woolley, West Bretton

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ROBERT HENDRY: b. 1856, Who-knows-where-shire, Scotland; 1882 to US
DEMPSTER, HOUSTON: Lesmahagow, Glasgow, and Massachusetts
GALBRAITH, MEIKLE: Kirkmichael, Ayr.; Hamilton, Glasgow, and Massachusetts


Offline AMBLY

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #4 on: Monday 03 August 09 01:23 BST (UK) »
Search Labs also have Caesar (as Ceaser) and Mary in Brooklyn in 1871.

Ceaser SPRINGFIELD 88, Black, Farm Labourer,  b New Jersey
Wife: Mary SPRINGFIELD , Black, b New Jersey
Both are enumerated as unable to read/write

There is a 10 yr discrepancy in their ages between 1850 and 1870

Cheers
AMBLY
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

"Now that we're all here, I'm not sure if we're all there...."

 Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz
 Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace
    ~Benito Juarez (1806-1872)

Offline wisby

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #5 on: Monday 03 August 09 06:08 BST (UK) »
Hi Ambly and John,
Thank you for your information, it is quite interesting. I am doing this search for a friend and there has been no mention of his Ceaser Springfield being black, but it seems to be the only one to come up in New York so it is a possibility.
Thanks again, Nola.
Bacon - Wisby, Essex
Fidock - Henwood - Brown, Cornwall
Irons, Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Goodfellow, Wiltshire
Campbell, Armidale, Inverell
Kemp, SA, Nhill
Turner, Dorset, Tenterfield, Glen Innes
Blake, Galway, Patterson, Maitland, Moree 
Mullins, Limerick, Patterson, Maitland, Moree
Beckerley

Offline lyngen

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #6 on: Sunday 25 October 09 21:44 GMT (UK) »
Hi Nola,
I was pleased to see your post today.  I have direct information on Ceaser Springfield and his descendants.  I would be interested in finding out how his son came to migrate to Australia. 

 :)lyngen

Offline wisby

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #7 on: Monday 26 October 09 01:35 GMT (UK) »
Hi lyngen,

So pleased to hear from you, hopfully we can help each other

What I know about Samuel Springfield:

Naturalisation record

Samuel Springfield

Born 1820 in Brooklyn United States of America

Naturalised 1908 in Victoria Australia aged 87 having been in Australia 55 years

Arrived in Australia 1853 on sailing ship Bloomer

DIGGER INDEXES
SPRINGFIELD,Samuel Spalding, Death,,father Springfield Ceazer,mother Maria SEXTON,aged 90,place Eganstown, Victoria year 1911, Reg. No. 8738

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Nola.
Bacon - Wisby, Essex
Fidock - Henwood - Brown, Cornwall
Irons, Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Goodfellow, Wiltshire
Campbell, Armidale, Inverell
Kemp, SA, Nhill
Turner, Dorset, Tenterfield, Glen Innes
Blake, Galway, Patterson, Maitland, Moree 
Mullins, Limerick, Patterson, Maitland, Moree
Beckerley

Offline lyngen

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Re: Ceaser Springfield
« Reply #8 on: Monday 26 October 09 13:50 GMT (UK) »
Nola,
Thanks for prompt reply.  I am his 5th great grand daughter.  My grandmother know his daughter, Mary Jackson, when my grandmother was around 12 and Ceaser's daughter was in her 80's.  They lived in the same household.  It was my grandmother who told me about Mary Jackson and I started my search with the US Census.  Tedious, that, as it was before the internet.

I have his death certificate, his wife's and subsequent generations.  I have been trying to find more info on him since the 1970's!  He and his wife, Mary, are buried in Evergreen Cemetary in Brooklyn NY.  They died a few days apart in 1872.  No marker but the cemetary has record of the general area. 

We have DNA tested his wife, Mary Springfield, for roots back to the Senegambia region of Africa, but have no further details on when or exactly where.  Do you have info on Maria Sexton, was she from NY?

I hope I have not been to rambling with this reply but I am so excited.  Must go to work, alas, so will end here.  Do you have info on any descendents of Samuel?  I will try to find him in official records over here in US.

Thank you so much,
lyngen