Our “undocumented” neighbors

A few of our local people are “undocumented” but not in the common usage of the word. They have apparently chosen and managed to live with little government interaction.

The most memorable example of this was a peaceful old man who lived just a few doors away on a branch of Nantuxent Creek. He had a boat and a dock that he built himself. Remnants of the dock are still visible today. He made his living on the water but I wasn’t astute enough then to pay attention to those details. He was poor but not destitute. He did not stand out from any other neighbors in those years. I think that’s the main point.

I remember my NJ-born waterman neighbor, a black man, who died about 15 years ago (2002-2003) in his 80s (he didn’t know exactly how old he was) primarily because had no significant contact with government his whole life. Other seniors in this community remembered him as a child in Newport so his story checked out. But he had no social security card, had avoided the draft, never received medical care except a local doctor. He bragged that he never had a social security card. He drove but never had a drivers license, never paid income taxes, etc. He had a cabin on the water on property that he apparently did not own. (The cabin was almost completely over the water. This would not be permitted today but there was no government enforcement in those days).

I’ll likely remember his name at some future time. Part of the purpose of this blog is to record partial histories so that they are not lost and may later be pieced together. For now, I’m leaving all names out of this published story. The only other thing I remember about him was that he was the only neighbor not connected to the shared water well. I heard that the former well owner did not like him and that perhaps racism was a factor.

An officer from the sheriff’s office asked me about him years later after I presumed or heard that he died. He did not die here. I vaguely recall something about a woman. His cabin was deteriorated from storms at that time. His cabin remained closed up for many years and was eventually demolished by the new property owner. (The new property owner came from Sea Breeze and also died a few years later). I still have a few relics from the old cabin collected after the demolition. The only other thing at the site is a bulkhead that was partly reconstructed later.

The fact is that according to the “law” he was illegal, a lawbreaker, a criminal, undocumented. But to me he was an ordinary pleasant guy who just happened to live here in peace at this remote rural place of Money Island. I helped him occasionally, including once with a medical issue, although I don’t remember any other details.

We still have some people in this bayshore area who live with minimal outside contact. When our kids were young they imagined these neighbors to be fugitives with some dark secret. I’ve come to realize that they are just people who made a different lifestyle choice. The politics of this is heightened with the fear of local ICE raids.


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