I was born Ulster County New York, and as near as I can tell, somewhere around 1797. I was given the name Isabella, and was called " Bell."
My mother was named Elizabeth, and called Betsy and my father was named James. At that time they were the slaves of a man named Colonel Ardinburgh.
He belonged to a class of people called "low Dutch." You see, in the early years of this country, the Dutch controlled the New York and New Jersey area. During that time it was called New Netherlands.
In my father's youth he was very tall and straight. For that reason he was called "Bomefree," which was Dutch for tree. We called my mother "Mau-mau" Bett. Mau-mau was Dutch for Mama.
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