c. late 1820s: The Rev. Henry Highland
Garnet Works on Smithtown Farm

In 1825, a young runaway slave from Maryland’s Eastern Shore named Henry Highland Garnet settled in New York City with his family. In the late 1820s, at age 14, he went to work on a farm in Smithtown that belonged to Epenetus Smith II, a fifth generation descendent of Smithtown founder, Richard "Bull" Smith. Smith’s son, Samuel, tutored him. After two years, Garnet returned to New York having suffered a knee injury. He grew up to become a well-known abolitionist and minister. In 1864, Garnet became pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. On February 12, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln invited Garnet to deliver a sermon on the the abolition of slavery at services in the House of Representatives. Garnet was the first African American to speak at the Capitol and one of the first to enter the building. Garnet died in Liberia in 1882. He is shown here in an undated photograph.