Rebecca Kellis

Mary Rebecca Kellis (maiden name Bunn, first married name Lee), also known as “Aunt Becky,” was born in 1839 on the Shinnecock reservation in Suffolk County, New York. In her long life she became one of the most well-known members of the Shinnecock nation, doing interviews with newspaper reporters and historians of early Long Island to share her memories of Shinnecock society. She worked as a schoolteacher on the Shinnecock reservation and as a domestic worker for wealthy Long Island families.