Beman Triangle

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States
Surname/tag: Beman, Jeffrey, African-American, Nehantic

The Leverett C. Beman Historic District in Middletown, Connecticut, colloquially known as the Beman Triangle, was part of a neighborhood once called “The Hill”, where free people of color settled in the 19th century.

Wangunk History

Located at the base of what is now Indian Hill Cemetery, the 5-acre triangular neighborhood is within the 50-acre parcel of Wangunk Tribal lands delineated in 1673 by Connecticut's colonial government. "Reservation land was specified as belonging to Wangunk heirs forever."^[1]

English colonists gradually bought up the reserved lands. In the 18th century many Wangunk moved away from the reservation. Many moved to 20 miles north to Farmington, west to Haddam, or to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Despite increased geographic distance, the Wangunk continued to identify as Wangunk, sign land deeds, and return to Middletown for important occasions after moving away.^[2]

Bette Nepash, or Old Betty, a Wangunk, held yearly tribal gatherings until the 1810s. These gatherings helped continue a longstanding Wangunk connection to the region. After Nepash's death, Jonathan Palmer was identified as the last Indian in Middletown when he died in 1813.

However, the indigenous people were not gone. From the [Chatham Historical Society]: "There were originally many small American Indian tribes in the Connecticut area, including the Mohegan, Pequot, Niantic, Nipmuc, Mattabesic, Schaghticoke, Paugussett, and others. Though all of them spoke related languages and shared many cultural similarities, each tribe had its own leadership and its own territory. However, European epidemics and warfare devastated the Connecticut Indians, and the survivors had to merge with each other to survive."

People of Color: Jeffrey, Beman, and Condol Families

Bemans - Caesar Beman, the founder of that family name and the grandfather of Leverett Beman, married Sarah Gerry in 1781. She is identified as white in the 1810 census^[3], though on page 70 of the book "And They Were Related too", Vicki Welch writes: "Sarah Gerry may have been a Wongunk descendant." Their son was Jehiel Beman, father of Leverett.

Condols - Jehiel Beman married Fanny Condol, a daughter of Catherine Waukeet, a Nehantic, and Cuff Condol. Cuff was a descendent of the [sachem Ninigret]. Catherine and Cuff had at least eight children; their daughter Melinda Condol married Joseph Jeffrey, whose father, George, was Nehantic and whose mother was unknown.

Jeffreys: George Jeffery died in 1813 and bequeathed land near Lyme, CT, to his children. by 1820, several of his children had moved to Middletown and purchased property in the Triangle site. The 1830 Census shows these households. Asa Jeffery 14 Herod Brooks 14 (married to Asa's daughter) Robert Caples His children occupy He died in 1845 and left the land to his children, most of whom sold their parcels to Leverett (whose brother had married Asa's daughter) then moved west to NY and Michigan.

Leveret, son of Jehiel and Fanny, was thus descended from Nehantic, Narragansett, Pequot and Wongunk tribes and African and European people. He had the property surveyed in 1847 and sold most of it to other relatives, who were free people of color descended from both Africans and Americans.

more coming...