William (Apes) Apess III (1798 - 1839)

Born 31 Jan 1798 in Colrain, Colrain, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Wood) Apes — married 16 Dec 1821 (to about 1830) in Salem, New London, Connecticut, United States [uncertain]

Died 8 Apr 1839 at age 41 in New York City, New York County, New York, United States

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Biography

William (Apes) Apess III is Notable.

William was Pequot.

William Apes of Massachusetts was a minister, orator, and author of the first full-length autobiography by a Native person.^[1]

In his autobiography, A Son of the Forest^[2], he describes his heritage and connections to "one of the principal chiefs" of the Pequod tribe of Massachusetts.

"My grandfather was a white, and married a female attached to the royal family; she was fair and beautiful. How nearly she was connected with the king I cannot tell, but without doubt some degree of affinity subsisted between them.... as nearly as I can tell, she was his grand or great-granddaughter....

"My father was of mixed blood--his father being a white man, and his mother, a native of the soil, or in other words, a red woman. ... [My father] married a female of [his mother's] tribe, in whose veins not a single drop of the white man's blood had ever flowed."

When Apes was about four, his parents separated, and he and his four younger siblings were left with his mother's parents, or possibly her father and stepmother. The children were beaten and not fed well.

William was taken from the house and sent to live with the Furmans, a white family who treated him kindly and sent him to school. At the age of 12, he was indentured to Judge William Hillhouse. Six months later, in 1809, Hillhouse sold his indenture contract to William Williams, a wealthy judge in New London.

At 15, he left his indenture contract and joined a New York militia unit as a drummer and served on the Northern Front during the War of 1812. His term expired in 1815.

By early summer of 1817, Apes returned to Connecticut where he followed a vocation to religious life. Licensed by the Methodists, Apes became an itinerate minister mainly within the Southern New England-Hudson Valley corridor.

Wives and Children

He married Mary Wood of Salem, Connecticut on December 12, 1821. According to the 1830 census, they probably had (at least) these children:

1. girl (born between 1815 and 1820) or this may be a teenager living in to help
2. girl (probably born c 1822)
3. boy (born between 1821-1825

After Mary died in the 1820s, he married Elizabeth. ^[3]

Death

The Long Island Star (page 1) on 18 April 1839 - Lobelia Again. An inquest was held at 31 Washington street, on the body of a Narragansett Indian named William Apes, otherwise known about the country as "Apes the Missionary Preacher," who was found dead upon the premises. It appears that Apes has been of late much in the habit of intoxication. and that feeling very ill he called in a Dr. Alkin, who administered to him a dose of lobelia. The medicine had a very powerful effect, and its operation continued with great violence till his death. It was ascertained on a post mortem examination that he had died of apoplexy and the jury rendered a verdict accordingly.^[4]

Died 8 April 1839 at 31 Washington Street in Manhattan.^[5] Burial place: Potter's Field.^[6]

Census Records

1830 = Household of William Apes in New York Ward 8, New York, New York

• Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9 - likely a son
• Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39 - William (age 32)
• Free White Persons - Females - Under 5 - likely a daughter
• Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14 - likely a daughter

Research Note

Wikipedia and other sources incorrectly list Candace as his mother. She was his father's second wife.

The six children (Elisha, Solomon, Leonard, Abby Ann, Sally George, and Leonard) of William and Mary (LNAB?) Apes listed as a group in the Vital records of Leydon MA, are often incorrectly set as children of William Apess and Mary Wood. William Apess is their Half-brother, not their father. Reasons why:

• Elisha was born in 1815 in Groton, Connecticut, when William Apess (age 17) was serving in the US Army.
• Apess married Mary Wood in 1821, but Elisha, Solomon, and Leonard-1 were all born before that
• the 1820 census for William Apes (over 45), a woman (between 26-45), and three boys under 10^[7] says William is over 45. In 1820, Apess was 22 years old, and his father was 50.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia:William Apess/Apes
2. ↑ Apess, William, A Son of the Forest, on Archives.org https://archive.org/details/sonofforestexper00inapes
3. ↑ "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6M4-T2J : 11 May 2022), Wm. Apes, 1839.
4. ↑ The Long-Island Star, April 18, 1839, Page 1. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-long-island-star-william-apess-dies/135141787/ : accessed November 13, 2023),
5. ↑ "New York, Church and Civil Deaths, 1824-1962," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPYP-71MW : 27 August 2019), William Apes Or Apez, 10 Apr 1839; citing Death, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 007587408.
6. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/503541:62518
7. ↑ 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Colrain, Franklin, Massachusetts; Page: 57; NARA Roll: M33_50; Image: 67

• Gura, Philip F. The Life of William Apess, Pequot PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-4696-4228-4, Published: February 2018, EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-4696-1999-6, Published: March 2015
• Brown, Barbara and James Rose, Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut 1650-1900, published 2001, New London County Historical Society, p. 11
• O'Connell, On Our Own Ground
• Lopenzina, Through an Indian's Looking-Glass: A Cultural Biography of William Apess, Pequot.
• webpage "Apes, William, 1798 - 1839" on https://nativenortheastportal.com/bio/bibliography/apes-william-1798-1839