Robert Walters, Mayor 1720-1725: Walters (c.1660-1733) was a wealthy merchant and ended his career as a judge. He was an enslaver and his will lists an estate in Jamaica. He is described as Captain Robert Walters in tax assessment rolls of July 1699 in the East Ward.[1]

According to a history of New York published in 1877: Robert Walters “was one of the wealthy men of the period, liberal and public-spirited. He lived in style, kept several horses, owned a large number of negro slaves, and his family always dressed in the latest fashion; but they never entertained guests except their own immediate relatives.”[2]

His wife, Katherine, was the daughter of Jacob Leisler. Leisler was a very successful New York City merchant and slave ship investor who worked as an official of the Dutch West India company when he arrived in the colony in 1660. His operation included supplying the Delaware Valley with finished cloth and trade goods, enslaved people and indentured servants, and alcohol in exchange for tobacco and grain. However, Leisler led an insurrection in 1689 in support of the Glorious Revolution by less prominent Dutch settlers and acted as governor until 1691. When England retook the colony, it executed Leisler.[3] In his will, Walter leaves his wife real estate, including “lands and tenements on the island of Jamaica, left to me by my brother John Walter.”[4] It is unclear which land or plantation this is.[5]

In 1691, there is a petition by Robert Walters to the governor “for the delivery to him of a negro sent him by Sir Francis Watson, knight, of Jamaica, to dispose of, and detained on board the man of war Arch Angel.”[6]

In September 1711, there is a petition to Governor Robert Hunter from “Sarah Robins, a free Indian woman, and native of the province of New York, about her freedom; she lived at Southampton; finally came into the possession of Robert Walters, who sold her as a slave and sent her to Madeira, whence she was returned by the English consul to New York [this is a summary].”[7] It is unclear which ship she sailed on and how Governor Hunter disposed of her case.

To his Excellency Robert Hunter Esq. Captain General and Governor in chiefe in and over Her Majestys Province of New York and New Jerseys and of all the Territorys and Tracts of Land Depending thereon in America and Vice Admiral of the Same The humble Petition of Sarah Robins a Free born Indian Woman Sheweth Unto your Excellency that your Petitioner is a Native of this Her Majestys Province and was born of free parents[,] hath lived great part of her time upon Long Island with one John Parker of Southampton[,] and by him was turned over to One John Week of Bridgehampton on the said Island who turned her over to Captain Robert Walters of the City of New York[,] but on what Account she knoweth not[.] The said Robert Walters upon the first day of January last caused your Petition[er] against her will to be Transported unto the Island of Madeira in Order to be there sold for a slave [. B]ut after her arrival in the said place upon her application to the English Consul and declaring that she was a Free subject[,] the said Consul so procured that Captain Peter Roland[,] who brought her into the said Island[,] should bring her back again to this Colony[,] she having before refused to be made a free woman if she would have turned to the Roman Catholik [sic] faith and be therein baptized[.] And your Petitioner being still in fear that she may be further Imposed on and at some time or other Craftily conveyed to some other part of the World under the Notion of a slave[,] she Doth therefore in most humble manner pray that the said John Parker[,] John Week[,] or the said Robert Walters may be put to prove their Title to her as a slave[. A]nd if they fail therein Then she humbly prays your Excellencys Protection whereby she may be suffered to live quietly and safely in this her Native Country as a Free born subject of the same[.] And she as in Duty bound shall ever pray[.]

In a 1698 census, John Parker is in Southampton. The census includes male Indians over 15 but “the Squas and children few of whom have any nam[e].” She does not appear in census records for New York City either.[8] Southold town records have a notice of a sale from James Parshall to John Parker of Sarah on March 27, 1698. However, this appears to be recorded on May 10, 1712.

Know all men by these presents that I James Paresall [Parshall] belonging to Southold in y County of Suf- folk on y Island of Nassaw yeoman have sold & de- livered unto John Parker of Southampton fuller an Indian Garle aged about eight years daughter of one Dorkas an Indian woman, which said Sarah was my slave for her life time; and I doe by these presents sell her ye sª Sarah unto him the said John Parker dureing her naturall life, to be unto him ye said Parker his heires & assignes as his or their proper estate; and I doe bind myself my heirs, executs and administrats to make good y sale of y abovesaid Indian gairle to him ye said Parker his heirs & assignes; and I doe ac- knowledge to have received of him ye said Parker for and in consideration of said Indian garle as full satis- faction, the full & just sum of sixteen pounds current money of this province. In Witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seale this 27th day of March 1698. his JAMES I PEARSALL [Parshall]. Witnesses. JOSEPH MOORE SAMUEL CLARKE- Entª May ye 10th 1712. mark Pr Benj: Youngs Town Clerk[9]

A 1918 history of Southampton notes the case as an example of an enslaved Indian at the time and includes the text of Sarah’s petition.[10]

[1] December 1695 to July 15th, 1699: tax lists, v.44:no.1-2, from New York Historical Society

[2] History of the city of New York: its origin, rise, and progress,  Mrs. Martha J. Lamb and Mrs. Burton Harrison … v.1, Hathi Trust, p.517

[3] “The Leisler Rebellion in the Delaware River Valley,” David William Voorhees; Listed as Robert Walter, Will Date 14 Jun, Probate Date, 12 Nov 1736; son John Walter, administrator, New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999

[4] Abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogate’s Office, City of New York, 1665-1801. V. 3, Will date June 17, 1719, Page viewer 230, FamilySearch; New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999, Wills, Vol 013, 1736-1741, Probate Date 20 Nov 1737, Ancestry.com

[5] “Planters, Merchants, and Slaves: Plantation Societies in British America, 1650-1820,” Trevor Burnard, 2015; Centre for Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, database search

[6] Calendar of historical manuscripts in the office of the secretary of state, Albany, Vol. II, E.B. O’Callaghan, p.212

[7] New York State Archives, original petition

[8] The Documentary History of the State of New-York, ed. by E.B. O’Callaghan, Vol. I, p.665 and 669; NYG&B, Pre-1750 New York lists; Calendar of historical manuscripts in the office of the secretary of state,, Vol. II, E.B. O’Callaghan, p.394

[9] Southold town records / copied and explanatory notes added by J. Wickham Case v.2, 1884, p.179

[10] History of the Town of Southampton, 1918, p.120

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine