Located west of Old Mill Road between Lawrence Place and Harold Avenue
is a wooded area which was once used as a cemetery. The Harold Avenue burial
plot was used by the descendants of the Jackson family slaves prior to 1862,
the date of the first recorded burial in the Old Burial Ground on Oakfield
Avenue.
Thomas
Jackson, a white Revolutionary War Veteran, deeded the property to Jeffrey
Jackson, who was black, in 1808. It is probable that Jeffrey Jackson was a
freed slave.
Slavery in this area had lost favor soon after the Revolutionary War and
was not generally practiced. Many of the white families of the area
were Quaker and were opposed to slavery. The former owners often gave
land to their freed slaves for their own farms. In many cases the grateful
Blacks took the surnames of their former masters.
Source:
Cemeteries of Old Wantagh
Editorial Committee
Wantagh American Revolution Bicentennial Committee
Wantagh, NY
May, 1976
Larry Engel, Wantagh Boy Scouts, District 12
Sherwin Kaplan, Voice of Wantagh
Karl Pfeiffer, Wantagh American Legion Donna Rigali, Wantagh Public Library