Millie Tunnell as portrayed by a student from the Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY.
My name is Millie Tunnell. I was born a slave on a plantation in the Deep South in 1785. My owner was Henry Tunnell, a wealthy planter of Acoma County, Virginia. Many times a neighbor of Mr. Tunnell would come to the grand house and I would often be called to serve them as they talked. His name was General George Washington. I was married on that plantation and raised my children. My oldest child was named Martha.
Before the war between the North and the South, Mr. Tunnell died and in his will he set all the slaves free. However, I was forced to work for five more years in order to earn enough to pay my freedom. We lived in the South for a time and by 1860 I moved to the old town of Jamaica, NY with my nine children. My oldest daughter was named Martha and we did service for many of the finest families of that town but I preferred to live in my own cottage with my daughter.
In 1883 I turned 101 and a reporter came to my home to interview me. They said that "She smokes a corn cob pipe constantly and her mind and sight are good." I lived a long industrious life and even at the age of 106 my eyesight was so good I could still thread a needle.
In 1896 I was considered the oldest inhabitant of Long Island at the age of 111 and it might have been possible that I was actually 114. That is the year I came to Maple Grove. My son became a well- known Baptist preacher and traveled throughout Long Island helping to establish Baptist churches.
Presented May 22, 2004 by The Richmond Hill Historical Society, Maple Grove Cemetery, and The Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY (Dr. Charlene Jaffie, principal).
Copyright © 2004 Carl Ballenas & Nancy Cataldi.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.
