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Dear Ms. Pelletier,
I used your last name because I didn't want to go back to find out your first name : )
Everyone who finds out that they are of Cuban descent should go to the historyofcuba.com It is without a doubt one of the best sites in terms of information. I know my history of New York quite well and while the Dutch and the English had New York pretty much sewn up in ownership when they arrived here, there were people that inhabited the island of Manhattan and I'm sure that I read or saw in a museum that it was a Cuban who touched down in upper Manhattan first.
A person who had done his PhD in history told me that prior to slavery in Cuba, Africans and French routinely travelled back and forth between Africa (probably Senegal), Cuba and New York.
Also either prior to or during the Napoleonic War the English had possession of Cuba and traded it to Spain. There were already 1/2 million Blacks in Cuba of which 300,000 were slaves. I recently read that the there were French pirates who went to Cuba and tried to insurrect the slaves against Spain. Many of the Blacks who adopted the names not of their slave owners but those that tried to help them. I believe in my particular case, William Augustus LeMonier was among the free blacks who spoke a variety of languages and set up shop in downtown Manhattan as a Segar (cigar) maker. I couldn't figure out segar until i read up on the history of Cuba. There was a tobacco boon in New York at the time and many of the Blacks in Cuba who were able moved to New York to escape the oppression by Europe & the U. S. I looked through the census and found that tobacco professions were listed as Segar makers, Segar importers and Tobacconists. It appeared that the Germans had a monopoly going in the field that is if segar=cigar.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer researching family members....I've had some wonderful finds including Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Queens NY where the third generation of William Augustus LeMOnier was buried with his mom and perhaps a sister in a very segregated part of the cemetery featuring names such as Mendez, Santiago, and Aba....they were of Hispanic background.
Really wish I could find the passenger list.
Good Luck
Karen LeMonier Bowers
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