The Knapp Family Collection
Third & Fourth Generations: 1814-1920
The Knapps — William James (1843-1885), Jane Amelia (1845-1898), Richard H. (c.1850-1907), and Harriet Maria (Minnie) Elmendorf (1852-1903) — were siblings raised as servants and wards of the extended Van Rensselaer family. According to Cherry Hill family genealogy, the children were of African American and Native American descent. Recent research has supported the long-held theory that their mother – Jane Jackson Knapp – was the granddaughter of Dinah Jackson, who was the last person enslaved at Cherry Hill.
Daguerreotype of Minnie Knapp (left), Jane Amelia Knapp (middle), and Margaret Carrol (right), c. 1855.
Cabinet Card of Jimmy Knapp, c. 1870
Photographs
Albany, NY
Dolls
Papier mache, wood, kidskin, cloth
c. 1835
Germany
This set of dolls is thought to have belonged to household servant Minnie Knapp.
Sheet Music
c. 1876
Oliver Ditson & Co.
Boston, MA
Jimmy Knapp may have served as a butler for the Van Rensselaer family—but his papers and belongings reveal a man of varied skills and interests. The Historic Cherry Hill collection includes Jimmy’s violin and hundreds of pages of his sheet music. Piano tuning was among the odd jobs that Jimmy took on after the death of his guardian-employer, Richard Van Rensselaer, and Jimmy often joined Hattie and the Elmendorfs in their music room.