Alexander Twilight met his future wife Mercy Merrill in Peru, New York while he was searching for a teaching job. They got married in 1826. We can assume Mercy’s family was very comfortable because Mercy came with a big dowry, which is believed to have helped Alexander in paying for some of the land for the dormitory.
We believe that Mercy was white because of her family’s high social stature, and her listings in the census records. The Merrill family probably wouldn't have wanted their white daughter to marry an African American man, but maybe they never knew that he was actually African American. We’re unsure if Mercy ever found out he was of African American descent. They spent the rest of their lives together and they had no children. Thank you! Alexander Twilight Girls
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Middlebury College is a Vermont college located in Middlebury, Vermont. Middlebury is about 70 miles Northwest of Dartmouth. It was founded in 1800 by Gamaliel Painter. Middlebury became the first operating college in Vermont and it is now educating over 2,500 undergraduates. Middlebury’s claim to fame is that they graduated the first African American: Alexander Twilight.
Alexander Twilight was accepted into Middlebury in 1821 but, since Middlebury had a policy against African Americans, he had to pretend he was a white man. We believe the reason he graduated was because they thought he was white. Years later, they claimed they graduated the first black man in America, even though they probably had no idea that he was African American at the time. Let us know how you feel about Middlebury’s claim in the comments. Alexander Twilight Girls |
AuthorsGabrielle and Esme have been researching Twilight thoroughly for three years. They started off working on their Vermont History presentation and eventually ended up, more recently, presenting at Boston History Camp in Boston, Mass. Archives
December 2019
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