Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Cemetery, People

Location

729 E Main St, Aquebogue, NY 11901, USA

Lat/Long

40.946817868399, -72.61888979364

Grant Recipient

Town of Riverhead

Brister Youngs was born into slavery around 1759 on the North Fork of Long Island, where nearly 900 people were enslaved between 1640 and 1827. Said to have been enslaved by Reverend Daniel Youngs, he lived through a period when the realities of slavery were often hidden or forgotten. By 1800 he had gained his freedom, becoming part of a small but growing free Black community in the town of Riverhead.

As a free man, Youngs built a family and participated in local economic life. He married a woman named Zipporah, who died in 1805, then another named Phillis, and together they raised six children. Store records show he was a regular customer who purchased goods such as tobacco, cider, and molasses, and he reportedly held shares and a fishing right—signs of his integration into the local economy.

Youngs died in 1839 and was buried in the Aquebogue Cemetery, near his first wife Zipporah and beside Thomas Austin, a man who had escaped enslavement in North Carolina. His life stands as a reminder of the long, often overlooked history of slavery and Black resilience on Long Island.