Peter Billings first appeared in the 1830 U.S. Census in Jay, Essex County, New York, living in a household of both white and free Black individuals. By 1850, he was listed as a 47-year-old mulatto laborer born in Vermont, residing in Chazy, Clinton County, New York, with his white wife Amanda and their five children.
In 1860, now living in Altona, the family included a new daughter, Ellen. Some of the older children had left home. The census placed them near “Nigger Road,” an actual location in Altona at the time.
By 1870, Peter (recorded as “Billerie”) was 65, identified as Black, and working as a farmer with $625 in combined real and personal estate. Only his wife, daughter Ellen, and another child, Permenlia, lived with him.
In 1880, Peter was still farming in Altona. He lived with Amanda and six adult children—George, Elisha, Martin, Charles, Sanford, and Ellen. He owned 37 acres of land and reported $100 in farm production, including 9 tons of hay harvested the previous year.
No record of Peter’s death has been found, and further research is needed.