"Color Me Included" - A Presentation by Rev. Deborah Knowlton

In this Zoom presentation which requires registration to get the Zoom link, co-hosted by Stratham Historical Society and Wiggin Memorial Library, Rev. Deborah Knowlton will discuss her book, , “Color Me Included”,  which is the result of her three-year historical and spiritual search, as she transcribed clergy records from the Archives of the First Congregational Church of Hampton, New Hampshire. In these handwritten, primary sources, she discovered details of the lives of African Americans, captured over 156 years by twelve ministers. The records informed the author’s research, as she rediscovered the names and partial histories of over twenty-seven African American men, women and children of Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kingston, North Hampton, Seabrook, Kensington, Kingston, East Kingston, Sandown, and Danville, New Hampshire.  

Rev. Knowlton is New Hampshire born and educated, having been raised as a farmer's daughter in Hampton Falls, NH and a graduate of UNH. Her grandmother taught school in Stratham elementary for many years. After college, she received her Master of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School. She served 7 different churches in NH, CT and ME before retiring in 2020. While serving First Congregational Church in Hampton, she wrote the book, "Color Me Included" which tells the story of 100 or so African Americans whose lives (between 1650 and 1820 or so) were revealed through church lists, land deeds, probate records and primary diary sources. In her retirement, she has continued her investigations into hidden stories in the communities in which she has lived. While living in Bangor, she compiled a list of African Americans who are buried in Mt Hope Cemetery in Bangor, ME and a working document on the Black individuals and families from the Exeter, Newmarket, Stratham and Newfields area, that is incomplete as yet. She has the joy in retirement of living near her 2 children and caring for her granddaughter, Mira. 

You must register for this program to receive the Zoom link.