Pyrrhus Concer (March 17, 1814 – August 23, 1897) was a former slave from

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

who was aboard the whaling ship ''Manhattan'' that was the first American ship to visit

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in 1845. Concer belonged to the Pyrrhus family and worked as a farmhand until 1832 (slavery in New York formally ended in 1827) when he worked on whale ships out of

Sag Harbor, New York Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...

. In 1845 he was aboard the ship captained by Mercator Cooper that picked up 22 shipwrecked Japanese sailors in the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic read ...

. The American vessel was allowed to enter

Edo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...

under escort to return the sailors and Concer became an object of curiosity and is depicted in Japanese drawings of the event. In 1848 he joined many of the people from the East End in the California Gold Rush. Afterwards, he returned to Southampton where he operated a small boat on Lake Agawam. A monument to him was erected near the lake on the northwest corner by Pond Lane. He is buried in the North End Cemetery in Southampton with his wife. NYS Plaque - Pyrrhus Concer Homestead 6576 04

NYS Plaque - Pyrrhus Concer Homestead 6576 04

Legacy

Attempts to rebuild his house, which was demolished in 2014 (the wood was salvaged and stored) has raised controversy in Southhampton His gravestone, engraved with an epitaph written by Elihu Root, is in Southhampton's North End Graveyard: "Though born a slave, he possessed those virtues, without which kings are but slaves."

References

External links

Legacy: Pyrrhus Concer By Bill Bleyer - Newsday Our Story Series

Teardown pics of Pyrrhus Concer homestead {{DEFAULTSORT:Concer, Pyrrhus 1814 births 1897 deaths 19th-century American slaves American people in whaling People from Southampton (town), New York People from Sag Harbor, New York