The ages of the following slaves who were in this neighborhood,
contemporary with the second generation, were as follows, to wit:
_Years._
Capt. De Witt's slaves:
Cuffee about 100
Frances " 70
Woman " 60
Esq. Depuy's:
Man Peter about 80
Woman Dinah " 75
Capt. Cuddeback's:
Woman Susanna " 80
Ezekiel Gumaer's:
Man Jack " 80
Esq. Van Inwegen's:
Woman Susanna " 70
James Swartwout's:
Man Anthony " 70
Woman Jude " 70
The first two generations of the four ancient families had the
small-pox naturally, without vaccination or dieting and without the
attendance of a physician, and generally had it light. A few
individuals, it was said, had only light symptoms of the disease and
few pox; yet certain individuals of two families had them hard. A few
of the oldest of Depuy's family were considerably pock-marked, and a
few of the oldest of Van Inwegen's family. The Cuddebacks and Gumaers
were not pock-marked, and the Swartwouts very trifling.
There was in this neighborhood a contagious fever between the years
1750 and 1760, which was here termed "the long fever." It commenced
in one of the summers near the end of harvest time, and was more
mortal to the black people than the whites. Depuy lost several
slaves, who died of this fever. He said the cause had been attributed
to eating too many pigeons.
The second generation of the four ancient families, with few
exceptions, remained healthy. Rheumatism sometimes afflicted the
members of the second Gumaer family, but still were able to perform
much labor and were strong, though not equal in strength to the
Swartwout or Cuddeback families. All were men of six feet stature,
excepting two of the Gumaer and one of the Van Inwegen family, and
averaging near 200 lbs. weight.
* * * * *