This post is one in a series in an attempt to identify members of the Clarke family groups among the people enslaved by Robert D Sewall at “Poplar Hill” in Prince George’s County.
1842 Bill of Sale
In April 1862, Congress emancipated people enslaved within the District the Columbia. In May 1862, William J Stone, Sr. submitted a petition certifying that he was loyal to the US and that he claimed to have enslaved 8 Black people at the time of the act. Among them, Fanny Brown, age 43, “a good cook & family servant” and Cornelius Digges, age 23, “a good house servant, waiter and driver”, both of whom were purchased of Robert Sewall of Prince George’s County.
As part of Stone’s documentation that he was the rightful “owner”, he submitted the Bill of Sale between Robert D Sewall and William J Stone [Civil War Washington] which included the names and ages of other enslaved people that he purchased:
- Fanny Brown, age 22
- Henrietta Clarke, age 23
- [Her Son] Nealy, age 2
- Henrietta Brown, age 15
- Minty Carroll, age 21
- John Johnson, age 13
- Basil Lee, age 8
Except for Henrietta Clarke, the people named were born after the 1821 Inventory of Robert Sewall’s Prince George’s Property.
1821 & 1853 Inventory
Henrietta, age 3 months old, appears in the 1821 Inventory in the family group with the inferred mother, Charity. This family group is immediately after the Polly [Clarke] family group with Abraham Clarke, who was manumitted by Robert D Sewall in 1852 and Charity (younger) who married Daniel Jackson [see additional posts].
I had assumed previously that Nelly was short for a female’s name. Comparing the 1862 Emancipation Petition and the 1842 Bill of sale with the 1821 Inventory, its possibly that Nelly is short for Cornelia for a female or Cornelius for a male. Cornelius Digges is listed in the petition as Cornelius, and assumed to be Nealy in the Bill of Sale.
While Henrietta is not included in Robert D Sewall’s 1853 Inventory, her parents, Thomas and Charity are.
Thomas, while not included with Charity and her children in the 1821 inventory, appears to be included in the inventory:
He is on the previous page, about two-thirds of the way down the column, grouped with a cluster of adult men: Tom, 32, Sampson, 37, Capt. John, 41, and Capt. George, also 41.
Freed, Cornelius Digges
Based on the petition, which did not include Henrietta Clarke (or Digges), it is likely that Henrietta did not survive her captivity. Her son, Cornelius “Nealy” Diggs, did however, and was emancipated in 1862. The petition by William J Stone notes that he has a place near “Mount Pleasant”; it is unclear if Cornelius was held at “Mount Pleasant” in the county or at a city residence on 14th Street between F & G (Evening Star, 15 Sept 1859).
He was drafted into the 22nd Regiment of the US Colored Infantry and fought for the emancipation of all enslaved people.
After the war, he returned to DC where he found work as a coachman [1869], servant [1867] and waiter [1870], similar to the labor he preformed when he was held captive by Stone. (City Directories listed his occupation and residence in Ward 1).
In 1868, he married Evelina Moore, who had been brought to the District from Virginia by her enslaver, Mildred E Ewell, who was bequeathed the legal authority to enslave Evelina from her parents, Jesse Ewell and Mildred Ewell of Prince William County, 1848. She brought them to DC in 1851. (Emancipation Petitions, ancestry.com)
Notes on the Enslavers
William J Stone, Sr
In the 1860 US Federal Census, William J Stone is listed in Ward 2. He is estimated to have real estate valued at $157,000. In contrast, Robert D Sewall had real estate valued at $93,500 in 1850 and he was considered a wealth landowner by his peers. Stone was listed as a “Gentlemen” from England. He had an Irish servant listed with him in the census. His 1860 Slave Schedule lists six people (though he claimed eight on the petition). The ages roughly correspond with the petition (The Pleasants family and Fanny Brown) and appears to omit Cornelius. A web search shows that William J Stone was a engraver who was commissioned to reproduce the the “Declaration of Independence” and political ally of John Quincy Adams.
stories of Then 