Descendants of Prince Duplex

• He was an A.M.E. minister in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

• She was a dressmaker.

• He was a carpenter.

• He was a barber.

• His obituary was published in Beckwith's Almanac in 1860 in New Haven, CT.⁹⁴

Elisha C. Duplex, formerly of New Haven, died at Marysville, Cal., aged 31. He went to school to me in 1842, he and his brother Edward being the first colored boys I ever taught. They were good and capable boys.

• He was a businessman and mayor of Wheatland, CA.

• Biosketch

Edward Duplex was the oldest son of Prince Jr. and Adaline Duplex. His father died in 1832 leaving Adaline, a dress maker, to support the three Duplex children. Edward and his brother learned the barbering trade in New Haven before setting out with their mother to join the California gold rush in the early 1850's. The family developed a successful business enterprise of hair care service and products. Edward's establishment in Wheatland, Yuba County, California became a center of political and civic discourse. Edward played a prominent political role in northern California, serving as mayor of Wheatland, gateway of California's gold rush country. He married Sophia Elizabeth and had five children, two of whom survived beyond infancy. His life and accomplishments are described in several articles and books about African American pioneers of California. . .more

• She was a seller of hair products.⁷⁴

• He was a physician, Civil War surgeon, the first African American graduate of Yale Medical School (1857) and the first of his race to receive any degree from Yale University.

• Biosketch

Born in April 1833, he was named after Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, scion of a wealthy and politically influential New York family. Van Rensselaer had graduated from Yale College in 1827 and was a missionary preacher to slaves in his early career as a Presbyterian minister.

Creed attended the New Haven Lancasterian School, an unusual accomplishment for an African American youth of his day. After graduation he apprenticed for two years with a respected New Haven physician, Dr. George Buddington. Encouraged by this positive experience, he applied and gained admission to Yale Medical College in 1854 at the age of twenty-one.

In 1855 while still pursuing medical studies, he wrote Frederick Douglass and declared his ambition to complete medical studies in order to practice in Jamaica or Liberia. His Yale medical school thesis was entitled "Dissertation On the Blood" - a discourse on the physiology and chemistry of blood and the circulation. In 1857 after passing oral examinations before members of the Connecticut State Medical Society, he graduated, receiving his Yale diploma from Theodore Dwight Woolsey, President of Yale and Charles Hooker, Dean of the Medical College. These influential men were thought to have been instrumental in Creed's advancement. Despite what Creed described in his letter to Douglass as a prevailing national sentiment of "prejudice against color," he reported, "I never experienced any other than the most polite treatment from my fellow class-mates."

When Dr. Creed graduated from Yale Medical College in 1857, no more than a handful of African Americans had previously received medical degrees from U.S. institutions, and none from the Ivy League schools.

Dr. Creed remained in New Haven after his graduation and developed a successful medical practice. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he wrote to Governor Buckingham of Connecticut requesting a commission to serve as surgeon in the Connecticut Volunteers but was refused because of his race. In 1863, President Lincoln authorized the recruitment of African American troops and the Connecticut governor issued the call to arms. Creed wrote, "On every side we behold colored sons rallying to the sound of Liberty and Union." He was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the 30th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment and served to the War's end. He was mustered out on November 7, 1865.

About 1854, Dr. Creed married Drucilla Wright of Wilmington, North Carolina, with whom he had four boys. Drucilla died from tuberculosis in 1864, after which Dr. Creed began his military service. After the War's end, he married Mary A. Paul of Brooklyn, New York with whom he had six children. He briefly practiced in New York but returned to New Haven where he remained for the rest of his career. In addition to his medical practice, he served as Justice of the Peace during the 1870's. Cited frequently in local news and the New York Times for his surgical and forensic skills, he was consulted for a surgical opinion at the time of President's Garfield's assassination. He was active in the Connecticut National Guard. On December 20, 1879 he received a commission as a 1^st Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon in the Fifth Battalion of the Guard. He was admitted to the Connecticut Medical Society in 1885. In the final decade of his life, his health and personal fortunes declined. He died from "Bright's disease" (glomerulonephritis) on August 8th, 1900. He was survived by his second wife, three sons and three daughters. He was laid to rest next to his father, mother and brother in the family burial plot in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven.^100,101

• Corresponds with Frederick Douglass. . .more

• Report on Civil War service. . .more

• His obituary was published in the Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, 1900-1910.⁸⁴

Courtland Van Rensselaer Creed, son of John William and Vashti Elizabeth (Duplex) Creed, was born April, 1935, in New Haven, Conn. Part of his early education was obtained in the Lancasterian School of New Haven. His father was a college janitor, steward of the Calliopean Society, and provided the Commencement dinner for Yale alumni from about 1822 to 1865.

After graduation from the Yale Medical School Dr. Creed settled in New Haven, and at one time had a large and successful practice. In later years he was unfortunate. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the Thirteenth Connecticut Volunteers in 1863. After the Civil War he practiced for a short time in New York. He died suddenly of Bright's disease in New Haven on August 8, 1900, at the age of 65 years. His first wife was Drucella Wright, by whom he had four sons, three of whom are living. His second wife, Mary A. Paul, had six children, of whom three daughters are living.

• Death Notice: New Haven Daily Palladium, 27 Jan 1864.¹⁰⁵

Died - In this city, January 26, Drucilla Wright, daughter of Richard Wright, and wife of Dr. C. V. R. Creed, after a long illness, which she sustained with Christian fortitude, aged 28 years.

• Marriage announcement: 29 July 1865, New York, NY.²²⁶

Married. Creed-Paul - In New York City, on Tuesday, July 25th, at the residence of the bride's mother, by Rev. Edward O. Flag, of the Church of the Resurrection, Dr. L. Van Rensaelaer Creed [sic] of New Haven, Conn., to Miss Mary A., daughter of the late Benjamin Paul, Esq. of Albany, N.Y. No cards.

• She was a dressmaker.

• Death Notice: New York Times, 10 Aug 1908.²³⁴

Creed. - At 1,070 St. Mark's Av., Brooklyn, Aug. 8, Mary A. Creed. Funderal private..

• He was an ice cream manufacturer.¹²²

• She was a nurse.

• He was a farmer and then a stove maker.